Shizuha: Goddess of Red Leaves
by Game2002
Summary: The natural environment of Gensokyo is threatened, and Shizuha is not going to sit by and watch that happen. She will step forward to save it. First story of the "build-up series".
1. Tree Fall

_Autumn…_

_A season that symbolizes loneliness…_

_and the end…_

**BGM: A calm and slow-paced remix of A God That Misses People ~ Romantic Fall**

A sea of trees, colors ranging from red to orange…

_As one the goddesses that makes up the goddesses of autumn, I know this better than anyone else…_

A swift kick to a tree…

_I am always there when this season comes…_

Leaves fall off their branches and slowly float to the ground, covering it until it became a sea of leaves…

_But this is not the kind of end that brings tears…_

_It is the kind that allows new lives to be born…_

_and bring happiness to those expecting it…_

A blond girl in a red dress bent down and gently picked up a leaf. Standing back up, she carefully placed it near the side of her head in a way so that it wouldn't fall off her hair…

_The colors of red, orange, and yellow…_

_Like fire spreading across the treetops, those colors mark the end of the leaves…_

_But their demise is far from painful and tragic…_

The girl slowly walked through the forest, the dried leaves crackling underneath her feet with each step…

_The sight of leaves slowly falling down from the trees…_

_Forest floors covered in them…_

_To those with a sense of aesthetics…_

_It is beautiful…_

The girl stepped out of the forest and looked at the beautiful scenery of nature before her eyes. A light wind picked up, blowing some leaves into the air. The girl smiled lightly as she raised her arms to the side with her head tilted up and her eyes closed to enjoy the coolness of the wind as they blew against her skin, hair, and clothes…

_Autumn…_

_It is the season of loneliness, demise…_

_and beauty…_

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A Game2002 Production

TOUHOU PROJECT

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_SHIZUHA_

_GODDESS OF RED LEAVES_

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**Chapter 1  
Tree Fall**

* * *

**BGM Ends**

Autumn had arrived in Gensokyo, and it was the season when most crops were ripe and ready to be harvested. It was the season when farmers were more than joyful, as their year of hard work had finally paid off. All those hours spend underneath the sun toiling the soil, planting seeds, watering them, tending to them, and getting rid of pests were finally worth it. At long last, it was time to see the result of their hard works.

Near the outskirts of the Human Village was a farmland where several farmers lived and made their profit through their crops. Crops of various kinds were gathered together, some arranged in piles and some in long lines. It was as if the farmers were trying to show off to the world what they managed to grow.

A middle-aged man looked at the pile of pumpkins he gathered together and said, "Gotta say that I'm impressed with these! Took me lots of sweat to get these looking orange and healthy! I don't think I've ever succeeded in planting such good-looking pumpkins! All those hard work under the sun finally paid off!"

Another middle-aged man, a fatter one, walked up to him and said, "Your pumpkins may look good, but they're nothing compared to the squash I planted! Now don't get into the argument of them being different kinds of vegetables, so there's no point in comparing them. They're all crops that we planted using the same kind of soil, so if the quality is not the same for the both of us, you'll know that one of us is doing it wrong!"

"And I was about to show you the squashes I planted, too!" the first man said as he pointed his hand in the direction of a basket of squashes. "As you should probably be able to tell from here, they're plumper than yours!"

"Ha! Big deal! You've got to look at the corns I planted!" the second man said. "I'm going to bring you a basketful full of them right now! You'll be amazed at how fresh they look!"

Just as he was going to go and get his basketful of corn, a tall, bearded man came over and said, "Boasting about each other's vegetables, eh? Haha! That's just like you guys! There's no point in arguing whose is better until you've seen the result of a pro!"

"Oh boy… There he goes again… Boasting about how he came from a long lineage of farmers and how his skills were passed down from generation to generation, so everything he plants is of the highest quality again…" the first man said, and the second man nodded in agreement.

The bearded man was going to start boasting about his crops when suddenly his plump wife stepped up in front of him and said to the two, "It doesn't matter whose crops are better! What's most important that we should all thank the goddess of abundant harvest for allowing our crops to grow up healthily, not to mention making the harvest successful! Every year, she does her best to make our hard work pay off, so we must never forget to give her our thanks!"

"You're right," the first man said. "I almost forgot about the goddess of abundant harvest! She's probably not going to like it if we forget about her…"

"Yeah, remember how Gorou's crops were trampled and ruined the day after he kept on boasting about how it was all his skills that all his crops are very high quality?" the second man said, and then he looked at the bearded man's wife. "Good thing you stepped in to stop him from boasting; otherwise, it's going to be a repeat of last year…"

"Because of this, we must never forget about the goddess of abundant harvest, Minoriko Aki!" the woman said. "I'm sure she is looking at us from somewhere with a smile on her face! She may even consider showing herself in front of us! Being able to meet the goddess herself is an honor!"

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to show you the tomatoes I planted," the bearded man said. "Just one look and you'll want to eat them!" He turned to his basket of tomatoes placed not too far away and noticed a little boy picking some of the tomatoes. "Hey! Who are you and what are you doing?!"

The boy, seeing that he had been spotted, ran away with the tomatoes he stole as fast as he could, and the man shouted for him to stop while giving chase.

There was nobody near the boy when he made his escape, so he thought he was going to have no issues getting away. Suddenly, leaves were blown at him, making him unable to see the front properly. Someone suddenly caught him from the front, and the sudden halt made him drop the tomatoes, some of them splattering upon hitting the ground.

The three men from before came running up to the boy and the person who caught her, a blond girl dressed in red, and the bearded man said, "Thanks goodness that you caught the thief!"

Without saying anything, the girl tossed the boy in front of the three men, and the bearded man scolded him. In the midst of his scolding, a voice interrupted him, and everyone turned to the side see a blond girl wearing a yellow blouse and red dress walking towards them, and they could smell the scent of sweet potatoes coming from her as well.

"That would be enough, Mr. Gorou," the girl said to the bearded man with a smile on her face.

The fat man said, "I know her! She's the goddess of abundant harvest!" Immediately, everyone except the blond girl bowed down in front of her.

The girl—Minoriko Aki—looked at the boy and told him to lift up his head. "I understand why you're stealing other people's crop," she said to him in a kind voice. "Your house is suffering from financial problems, and you are quite low in food supply. Because your parents are unable to provide an adequate amount of food for the entire family, you couldn't help but steal some of the crops, right?"

The boy guiltily nodded his head.

"It's all right! I'm not angry at you, but please do now that stealing isn't good!" Minoriko said to him. "At least ask them first if you can take some! These crops are the result of their hard works, and it would be a huge blow to them if they were to be stolen." She then turned the bearded man. "Mr. Gorou, would you please forgive this child? You have heard me saying what the problem is with his family already, and I'm sure you are a man kind enough to share your crops. After all, you're always proud of your crops, so surely you would want other people to try them out and see for themselves if you really are telling the truth!"

"Well, you're the goddess, so who am I to deny you?" the bearded man said. "All right… I'll let the kid go, and he can take the tomatoes he took if he wants to."

"I'll also give him some of my pumpkins and squashes!" another one of the man said.

"He can have my corns, too!" the fat man said. "They'll definitely make him and his family healthy like me!"

With that, the three men returned in the direction of their crops, and the boy said thank you to Minoriko before following them, taking with him the tomatoes he stole. "Take care!" Minoriko said to him while waving at him.

"Hmph! You went too easy on him," the other girl said to the goddess. "With an attitude like that, chances are likely that he'll do something like this again."

"Don't say that, sis," Minoriko said to her. "He's still young, and you should think of the life he currently is living, too! Kindness can touch the hearts of people and change them!"

"Maybe, but some people may take advantage of it, too," the other girl—Shizuha Aki—said.

"You should think more positively, sis," Minoriko said to her while looking at the farmers giving the boy some of their crops. "The nicer you are to other people, the more people will like you!"

"Unlike you, I lack people skills and am not the kind of person to think positive things all the time," Shizuha said. "Your positive and outgoing attitude makes you popular with other people, unlike me… After all, you're the goddess of abundant harvest, and people like it when their crops grow. Therefore, they take pleasure in your existence and praise you nonstop. I'm the goddess of red leaves, and what exactly is the purpose of turning leaves red and making them fall off trees when autumn comes? Sure, children enjoy playing in dead leaves and burning them in order roast sweet potatoes, but compared to your ability, mines is something that doesn't sound impressive…"

"The fact that some people appreciate what you do should be good enough!" Minoriko said to her. "Look at the smiles on the children's face when they play in the leaves and roast sweet potatoes using them! Being able to bring smiles to the face of children is something worth being happy about!"

"But like I said, it's nothing compared to the number of smiles you can put on people's face," Shizuha said to her. "Your ability can solve hunger and help people make profit. No matter how you look at it, the majority is going to agree that your existence is more important and desirable than mines. My existence basically causes the death of trees. I don't see how an ability that causes the end of things is something you can be happy about."

"Cheer up, sis!" Minoriko said to her with a smile on her face. "The demise you bring to trees isn't everlasting. When winter comes and then goes, life will return to them again! You are doing this in order to allow trees to sprout new leaves and become new again! Thanks to you, trees are able to have fresh, green leaves every year! Your ability is something lovers of nature appreciate!"

Shizuha began to turn to leave. "That may be true, but in the end, the ability to bring an end to things is not as appreciated as one that brings forth abundance of crops. Your existence and ability will always be appreciated by everyone. Anyway, I'm taking my leave. Those people are hoping for you to give them your blessings, aren't they? Go and put smiles on their faces, then." A gust of wind carrying a large amount of leaves suddenly whipped up around her, shielding her from the view of her younger sister entirely, and when the latter was gone, so was the goddess.

Minoriko sighed with a light smile on her face. "That's just like her to be so negative… I do pity her at times, though… Hope the day will come when she get appreciated by people more…" Then she headed in the direction of the farmers.

* * *

The leaves crumbled underneath her feet as Shizuha walked through a forest somewhere near the Human Village.

_Minoriko has always been more popular and loved than me. It's obvious why. After all, who wouldn't love a goddess who can bring fortune to their farm works? She knows a lot about socializing with other people and making friends. I, on the other hand, lack any of those skills. Since the beginning, I was never the kind of person to hang out with others, always preferring to spend time by myself and watching everyone enjoying from afar. Pretty much nobody would come and talk to me either…_

The goddess stopped in front of a tree that still had all its leaves on its branches, so she give it a swift but strong kick to the trunk, causing all of them to fall down. Despite the size of the tree trunk compared to her stature, her kick was strong enough to make the whole thing shake.

_Well, there was that one time when I was sitting on a tree branch, a young man came by and asked what my name is. From the look of his face, he seems to have been smitten by my beauty. Well, that's understandable, since Minoriko even appreciates my looks. He tried to start a conversation with me, but since I am a goddess and he is human, we cannot be with each other forever, so all I did was tell him my name and then left quickly afterwards. Plus, he's not type._

Shizuha watched as the leaves slowly floated down around her, and then she continued on her way.

_Autumn is a season that symbolizes loneliness and the end of things. All life will come to an end one day. Being a goddess, chances are likely that I will survive to see the end of the world and all life in it. By that time, I may be the only person left in this world. It doesn't matter, because I am used to being alone, so when that day comes, I'll just treat it like how my life has always been. Other than my younger sister, I pretty much never socialize with anyone… Ever…_

Suddenly, a loud crash surprised the goddess. Looking up to see birds scattering into the air while chirping loudly, Shizuha wondered what that sound was just now and what had just happened. Seeing that the birds were flying from the direction before her eyes, she figured that whatever it was, it came from over there, so she wasted no time in rushing there to find out the truth.

She came to a stop at the exact same time another crash was heard. Standing next to a tree, she watched with a shocked expression at the sight before her eyes—trees, several of them cut down and lying on the ground.

"What… What is happening here…?" she wondered. She looked at the ones responsible for the fallen trees and saw kappas and fairies cutting them down using chainsaws and other kinds of tools used for woodcutting. She continued to look around and saw a person that stood out among the kappas and fairies. It was a young woman in her early twenties wearing a construction outfit of sorts and a helmet over her light brown hair that reached slightly halfway down her back. Seeing that she was giving out orders to the kappas and fairies, Shizuha figured that she was the one in charge of this.

"All right, cut down the trees in the western side," the woman called out to some of the kappas and fairies. "The trees in the north will have to go as well. Get this done before sunset!"

The kappas and fairies gave yes as their reply before heading over in said directions to cut down the trees. Shizuha remained where she was and watched with a somewhat shocked expression. The last time she came to this place was only three days ago, and the trees were still intact that time, but now, a large amount of them were gone. Such a sight did not sit well with her, so she went over to the person in charge and asked her, "What is happening here? Why are all these trees being cut down?"

The woman turned to her and said, "Oh, I know you! You're one of the goddesses that make up the autumn deities!"

Shizuha pointed her arm at the fallen trees and said, "Please answer my question. Why are all these trees being cut down? I understand trees being cut down to build architectures and for lumber, but such a large amount being cut down is unheard of here! Seeing how the kappas are involved, I take that this has something to do with the science department, right? Is the mountain goddess planning something?"

"As a matter of fact, you're right!" the woman said to her. "Oh, by the way, my name is Akemi Machida, third in command of the construction, engineering, and technology departments of Gensokyo! Nice to meet you!" She grabbed the goddess's hand and shook it. "To answer your question… Yes, the goddess of the Moriya Shrine did indeed ask for this to be done, as she is planning to build a movie theater!"

"A movie theater…?" Shizuha curiously said.

"Yep! A movie theater!" Akemi told her. "Cinemas are a big thing in the outside world, so the goddess believes that it's about time the people of Gensokyo get exposed to one of the main forms of entertainment of the outside."

"I know what a movie theater is, but to cut down such a large amount of trees just to make one… I think this is too much," Shizuha said to her. "Cinemas do not need to be grand-scaled. You can easily set one up in medium-sized empty lot or building."

"Oh, you don't know the thrill of watching movies in wide open spaces and with all the current technologies, don't you?" Akemi said to her, and then she shook her head slowly with her hands raised just below shoulder level. "Well, I can't blame you for not knowing about it, since you probably spent your entire life living in Gensokyo and had no exposure to the trends of the outside world. I came from the outside world after all, so I know a lot about such things then most of you here!"

Shizuha raised an eyebrow upon hearing the last line. "You came from the outside world?"

"Yep!" Akemi replied with a nod. "I've been here for a year already. Somehow stumbled upon this world while visiting a shrine out there… Being accustomed to life in the outside world, I was disappointed that this place is leading a very prehistoric life, but then I stumbled upon the kappas playing with inventions they created. This grabbed my interest, as I didn't expect to see something so high-tech in this primitive place. After telling them that I expertise in architecture, engineering, and science and technology, they decided to show me their science lab.

"You won't believe how amazed I was at seeing such a high-tech lab underneath this place! I was fascinated by the technology of the kappas! They're on par with the technology of the outside world, and I dare say that some of them are even more advanced than the outside! I immediately applied for a job there, and my skills quickly promoted me to being the third seat of the construction, engineering, and technology department. The mountain goddess has some really great ideas about renovating Gensokyo to make it a highly advanced place, and I fully agree with her! It's about time that the people here move out of their caveman-like lifestyles and live more like modern-day humans! You can't always live in the past and ignore the present, you know?"

"That's not necessary a bad thing, is it…? Anyway, I think that it's a good idea to introduce the people here to things from the outside world more, but I think we should take it slowly. There are some people here who do not even know what a television is! A full-blown movie theater will probably scare them too much, so I think that if we want to introduce them to movies, we should start with my idea just now, a medium-sized empty lot or building where the movie is being played." said Shizuha. "We can then increase the scale little by little the more they become interested in it!"

"On the contrary, I think you should go with a bang right off the bat if you want to impress people and grab their attentions," claimed Akemi. "If you start with something small, you likely won't grab anyone's attention at all. What better way than the impress people by starting off with something spectacular, grand-scaled, and awesome? This movie theater is going to blow away everyone here! It's going to be something unheard of here!"

"Let me ask you something first: is this something known to the others yet?" Shizuha asked her. "I mean has the goddess made this announcement to the public yet? I don't think the people here will take it lightly seeing lots of trees being cut down. She should have everyone's approval first before starting a project like this!"

"Don't worry; she made an announcement about it already yesterday," Akemi told her. "Whether they like it or not, they'll have to accept it. Plus, the entertainment they can get from watching movies is a good enough compensation for all the trees cut down! Plus, what's the point of letting trees stand around anyway? They're destined to be cut down in the end for various purposes, such as making furniture, papers, and more!"

"Please do not talk so lightly of trees," Shizuha said to her in a somewhat offended tone. "Trees have life, and they are an important part in the lives of living things. They provide us with food, oxygen, and shelter. Life cannot exist without trees."

"Technology and science can replace them," Akemi told her. "You better not underestimate the power of science! Thanks to advanced technology and the brilliant minds of scientists, humans are living better lives than before! Trees may be important, but they are now of the past! People now have better ways to live life than rely on them! Also, isn't it strange that someone like you is saying this?"

A question mark appeared over Shizuha's head. "What do you mean?"

"You're the goddess of red leaves, and you're responsible for making leaves wither and fall off trees, right? That would mean your job is to basically kill off trees!" Akemi said to her. "Because of this, it seems weird for you to feel sad or mad that trees are being cut down now. You make trees die, so you shouldn't be feeling bad when you see trees die!"

"This is not the same thing!" said Shizuha, getting angrier than before. "I do not permanently kill off trees! Once the trees live through winter, they will grow fresh, new leaves again. I'm actually allowing them the opportunity to grow new leaves! And just because my ability is to make trees die doesn't mean I take pleasure in seeing them getting cut down! Their deaths are inevitable and something that must happen every year when the time comes, but cutting down trees is forced, something that doesn't necessarily have to be done! I admit that I'm a pessimistic person who believes that everything will eventually come to an end, but I do not take pleasure in forcing life to come to an end right away!"

"Eh, say whatever you want…" Akemi said with a shrug. "It sounds like that you're against this project, but it's not like convincing me will change anything. The goddess is in charge of this, so you should talk to her instead."

"I wish, but I feel that I don't have the right to take away the expectations that some of the people may have for this project," Shizuha said. "If they're happy, then I'll have to deal with. It's the people's choice on how they want things to turn out."

"Good, then you should just sit back and continue making leaves fall off trees," Akemi said to her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to give out more orders to my workers. I'm a busy person, you know?" With that, Akemi turned to leave, giving out orders to the kappas and fairies while doing so. "Hey! The ones over there need to be cut down, too!"

Shizuha glared at the woman as the latter gave out orders. She did not like her attitude and way of thinking at all.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Akemi is my OC, and since Gorou is a minor character who you will likely never see again, you don't have to care much about him. The name "Akemi" means "bright beauty", as I made her a very smart (bright) person. "Machida" means "rice paddy near the town", but I chose that surname because it sort of sounds like "machine", since she is obsessed with technological stuff.

Please take note of this, as I want to let you all know about things to come. This story is the first of a series of character-centric stories that will eventually build up to a MAJOR story. All these character-centric stories will have relations to each other, even if not major. When the time is right, I'll let you all know what that major story is, but for now, I'll just tell you that the next story after this is a Nue-centric story. Because these stories will have connections to each, it would be a good idea to try to remember some of the details in each of the stories, as they may prove useful in the future related stories.

Also, this story takes place about a month after the events of Deep, Dark Dangers.

And one last thing: since I couldn't find a suitable remix on Youtube for the BGM here, you'll have to imagine it in your head. Hope it isn't too hard for you…


	2. Cries of Discontent

**Chapter 2  
Cries of Discontent**

* * *

Reimu was sitting at the veranda of her shrine, looking at the yard, while Ruukoto was busy sweeping the leaves that had fallen from the nearby trees. The shrine maiden took a sip of her tea and then noticed that one friend of hers descending onto the yard. "Hey there, Reimu! I'm here to see ya!" said Marisa as she got off her broom.

"You treat this place just like your home…" Reimu said. "Got any particular reason for coming here?"

Marisa adjusted her hat as she walked up to her and sat down next to her. "Just want to ask you if you've heard about Kanako planning to build something called a movie theater near the outskirts of the Human Village." Then she took one of the crackers on a plate next to Reimu to eat.

"Yeah, I heard of that," Reimu said. "I heard it's a form of entertainment of the outside world. Yukari described it as being a giant-sized television or something like that."

"Is there really a point to movie theaters when you can simply watch TVs? Guess we'll have to see the final product with our own eyes to understand why people from the outside world find it entertaining…" Marisa said before taking another bite from the cracker. "Speaking of which, lots of trees were cut down in order to make this. I was at the Human Village and overheard the people there not being happy seeing lots of trees being cut down."

"Something tells me that things won't go well with the construction…" Reimu said. "Kanako may have to reconsider things if a riot starts up and faith towards her is threatened…"

"Yeah," Marisa said with a nod. "Guess the people here simply aren't ready for modernization yet…"

* * *

During the night of the same day, within a small house built somewhere in a forest near the base of Youkai Mountain, the Aki Sisters were getting ready to turn in for the night.

Sitting on her bed, Shizuha said to Minoriko as the latter applied lotion onto her face to keep her skin protected while sleeping. "Minoriko," the older sister said the younger one, "what do you think will be the future of Gensokyo?"

"What do you mean?" Minoriko asked without turning her face away from the mirror.

"I mean… You know how the mountain goddess is interested in renovating Gensokyo, making this place as advanced as the outside world…" Shizuha explained to her. "However, years of living here tell me that the people here aren't ready for modernization yet. Do you think there will still be a place for us if Gensokyo really became modernized?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about the last part if I were you," said Minoriko, still not turning to her. "It's not like autumn or harvests are going to disappear after the modernization. Even in the outside, they still eat crops planted by farmers, and while most of them come from the countryside, there are places in big cities where they plant vegetables and fruits, too. As for whether or not the people can accept this sudden change… Well, I can't be sure about that… Changes are sometimes inevitable, and people will have to accept the truth when it happens. They may be in denial about the change, but as time goes by and they start to get adapted to it, they won't say anything about it anymore.

"I'm sure the mountain goddess knows what she's doing. She may an ambitious person, but she cares for the wellbeing of the people in Gensokyo, too. I'm sure she knows what she's doing, and if she sees that the people here aren't satisfied with her decision, such as cutting down lots of trees to build a building, I'm sure she will have a change of plan and do something else instead."

"Something tells me that the future is going to be grim…" Shizuha said. "The end is inevitable… The current lifestyle of Gensokyo will come to an end as you know it someday…"

"You're always talking about pessimistic things, sis," Minoriko said as she stood up and headed towards her bed, which was placed a couple of feet next to Shizuha's. "You should learn to cheer up more! Good things happen to those who smile and think positively! I'm sure everything will turn out all right in the end! There are still lots of trees for you to kick, you know."

"If modernization really happens and trees diminish greatly as a result, will I still have a purpose here?" Shizuha wondered. "Will I have to go somewhere else where there are lots of trees?"

"Think positively, sis! Like I said, everything will surely be all right!" Minoriko told her with a smile. "I'm sure the goddess will make sure that enough of this place's natural beauty will be preserved! There will still be enough trees for people to see in the autumn! All right, let's turn in for the night now. Good night, sis!"

"Good night, Minoriko," Shizuha said, and then she turned to look at the switch across the room. Taking off the leaf attached to her hair, she threw it like a dart at the switch and hit it to turn off the light. The leaf bounced back to her, and she caught it before placing it onto the table in between her bed and Minoriko's. The sisters then turned in for the night.

* * *

Every project had to have a meeting, and building a movie theater was no different. In the morning of the next day, an hour before afternoon, Kanako held a meeting in the conference room of the science lab. Together with her were people that played roles in helping her renovate Gensokyo, and notable faces included Nitori, Rikako, Rika, and Akemi.

For about forty minutes, everyone talked about the construction site and its status, the blueprint of the movie theater, how they would introduce the concept of movies to the people of Gensokyo, and when they could start building it.

After they were done talking about this, Kanako said, "Before we end our meeting for today, Akemi would like to give a special presentation regarding the renovation of Gensokyo, how it would look like in the future and such. Let us now give our time to Akemi Machida!"

Everyone clapped hands as Akemi walked up to the front of the room and bowed. "Thank you, everyone!" she cheerfully said. "I hope you will enjoy my presentation! Since all of us here are people of the future who are seeking to improve the lives of the people here, I am going to share you with my view of this place's future! Please look at this presentation I prepared!"

She turned on her laptop and then connected a projector's cable to it. After things were ready, she gave the signal for Nitori to turn on the projector and a kappa standing near the door to turn off the lights. When the projector was turned on and the lights were out, a PowerPoint presentation was seen on the white board behind Akemi. The slide showed the picture of a city with the words _The Future of Gensokyo_ in front of it.

Akemi went through each of the slides, which showed a bird's eye view of a modern-looking Gensokyo. "This is what I believe Gensokyo will look like in the future if our renovation project goes as planned," Akemi explained. "Those who know what the outside world look like can tell that it will become indistinguishable from the cities and towns there!"

She showed them a picture of a street that had stores at the sides. "What you are looking at now is the Human Village!"

Next up was a dock and several boats at a lake. "This is the Misty Lake. I'm sure it'll make a great place for boat rides and fishing! The Scarlet Devil Mansion is there in the background, in case you're curious."

Then she showed pictures of places that looked like towns. "Since the renovation is going to cover the whole of Gensokyo, it's obvious that the majority of this place will have to be habitable for everyone; therefore, additional towns will have to be built. As of now, it's really only the Human Village that is safe for people to live in, but once the renovation is complete, all of Gensokyo will be safe to live in!"

Next, she showed them the picture of a train inside a cave. "The underground will be renovated as well. For easy access to former hell, a train will be made to allow easy navigation between the surface and there. However, since the trip there involves going downhill, the train will have to be designed to travel that way.

Then she showed the picture of an underground city. "This is what I imagine former hell to look like after being renovated. I guess you can see that it will be the first true underground city, or town!"

Akemi continued on with the presentation until she was finished, and then everyone gave her a round of applause. "Thank you very much!" she said to them while giving a bow. "I'm glad that you like my presentation! Hopefully, we can work together to make Gensokyo a better place for everyone!"

"Your plans for this place are good!" Kanako said to her. "You have planned very far ahead, perhaps a bit too far ahead. If we rush things, the people here won't be able to catch up with the changes so easily. We should move forward step by step in order to get them adapted to the changes. Renovating isn't just about making physical changes, but also adapting people to the changes."

"Don't worry, goddess," Akemi said to her. "I'm sure they will get adapted to the changes! The movie theater will amaze them to no end, and they will be asking for more stuff from the outside world. We will continue to introduce all sorts of awesome outside world stuff to them, such as computers, video games, vehicles, department stores, and more! Even outside world food should be able to wow them! All these should be able to let them know what the wonders of the outside world are!"

"That is something we'll have to hold a meeting about some other day," Kanako said. "For now, let us concentrate on finishing the movie theater. Its reception will determine which direction the renovation project will take in the future. Okay, that will be all for the meeting today. Please continue your work at the construction site and report to me anything important."

With that, the meeting came to an end, and everyone got up and left the room. Kanako and Akemi left the room together, and the latter said to the former, "I won't disappoint you, Mistress Kanako! I'll definitely make Gensokyo the way you dream of!"

"I sure hope your presentation will be an accurate portrayal of what the future of this place will look like!" Kanako said to her. "Good work on the presentation! Keep it up!"

"I will! I'm off to work now!" Akemi cheerfully said before running off.

Kananko then made her way through the science lab, greeting some workers along the way, until she came to an elevator that had the sign saying _For Moriya household members only_ next to it. She entered the elevator and rode it to the top, and when it stopped, she stepped out into a dark room. She slid open a paper door and stepped out into the living room of the Moriya Shrine, where she saw a green-haired and ponytailed girl wearing a blue and white shrine maiden's outfit standing there with a worried look. "You're finally back, Mistress Kanako!" the girl—Sanae Kochiya—said to her.

Noticing the look on her face, Kanbako asked her, "What's wrong, Sanae? Why are you looking so worried?"

"Well, um… Maybe she can explain to you better…" Sanae said as she stood aside to let Aya come forward.

"Good morning!" Aya said to the goddess. "Or is it afternoon…?"

"It's you, Miss Shameimaru," Kanako said to her. "What is the matter?"

"Well… Regarding your plan to build a movie theater…" Aya said to her in a rather nervous tone. "You see… You had your workers cut down lots of trees in order to build it, right…?"

"Yes, and what about it?" Kanako asked her.

* * *

Marisa was walking around in the Human Village when she noticed a quite a number of people gathered near the exit, having a commotion over something. Curious, she headed over there to see what was happening, and she heard the people expressing their discontent at such a large amount of trees being cut down. The witch made her way around the people until she was able to see the clearing created yesterday.

Because of the people's discontent and grumbling, the kappas and fairies were nervous and wondered what to do. They told the people to calm down and wait for their superior to arrive and settle this issue with them.

"Guess my hunch was correct after all…" Marisa said. "I had the feeling it would be like this…"

A few seconds later, a pickup truck arrived at the scene, and when Akemi stepped out, a kappa rushed up to her and said, "Foreman! You're here at last! You see the people over there? They aren't happy with the deforestation yesterday! What do we do about them?"

Akemi looked at the people for a few seconds and said, "Stuff like this happen often… You got to see the outside world, I'm telling you. Just ignore them; they're only barks and no bites. It's not like they can do anything by simply yelling at us. They're not going to get away with the law if they use force either. Just put barricades around the construction site and then get back to your work."

"Are you sure?" the kappa asked her. "I think it's better that we give them a word first…"

"They can't be reasoned with me, so you should ignore them," Akemi said as she walked in the direction of the clearing with her stuff. "If I were you, I'd pretend that they aren't there."

Though unsure about her superior's command, the kappa decided to do as she said and told her fellow workers to set up a barricade to keep the people from coming in. Some workers remained close to the barricades to make sure that nobody crossed over them, while some went to work, clearing and flattening the land so that it would be suitable for construction. Some of the villagers called out to Akemi, but she ignored them and continued giving out orders to the workers.

Seeing her like this, Marisa said to herself, "Geez… Such a fine example for a foreman… Completely ignoring everyone's complaints… I wonder how she can do her work without getting bothered by all these yelling…"

"If you knew her better…" said a voice. Marisa looked to the side and saw Keine standing there.

"Oh, it's you," the witch said.

"Akemi showed up once in a while at the village with some workers to help construct and rebuild certain buildings," Keine told her. "I've seen her a few times, and she has already left quite an impression on me. She's from the outside world, and apparently, she doesn't like our current lifestyle. It's too primitive for her taste."

"She's from the outside world?" Marisa curiously said.

"Yes," Keine said with a nod. "Akemi was here since last year, having somehow ended up here when she was wandering around the shrine that leads to this world. I was the one who took her into the village and explained everything to her. After finding out that the kappas and Kanako had access to technology, she quickly moved to the science lab to live and work there. Her goal is the same as Kanako's—renovating Gensokyo."

"If things were really that easy…" Marisa said. "I'm not against Gensokyo becoming as advanced as the outside world. In fact, I'd totally give the opportunity to experience that kind of lifestyle, too! It's just that not everyone can get adapted to changes so fast, which is why Kanako still hasn't successfully renovated this place yet. Anyway, what are we going to do about this? That foreman isn't caring about the people at all…"

"Perhaps I should try to convince the people to calm down," Keine said. She was going to make her move when suddenly someone pointed out that there was someone flying in the air. Everyone looked up and saw Kanako flying towards them.

"It's one of the goddesses from the Moriya Shrine!" someone said.

"Well, guess things are about to solve themselves-ze," Marisa commented.

Kanako landed in the clearing, and the kappas and fairies immediately stopped working and bowed down to show her their respects, including Akemi. Akemi then ran up to Kanako and said, "Mistress Kanako! What brings you here? Are you here to see the progress?"

"Well… Um… Is everything going smoothly here?" Kanako asked her in an uneasy-sounding voice. Noticing this, Akemi asked her what was wrong, but the goddess looked at the people standing behind the barricades instead.

Seeing that the goddess was looking at them, Akemi said to her, "You're worried about them? You don't have to worry about them, Mistress Kanako! They're all talk and no threat at all! Stuff like this happen in the outside world often, and I've seen enough of it to know that they can't do anything to stop things from happening! Rest assure that they will eventually grow tired of pestering us and then leave!"

"On the second thought, I think it's better that we give them a few words and listen to what they have to say," Kanako told her, and then she walked up to them to start speaking to them. "Everyone, please calm down. I understand that it is hard for you to accept the sight before your eyes. I had the feeling that something like this would happen, but I still hoped that the announcement I made two days ago would get you ready for this."

"It's true that you told us about this beforehand, but we didn't expect it to be like this!" a man said to her. "Do you know the kind of harm that can be caused from cutting down such a large amount of trees? Flood is going to happen more often!"

The people continued to throw various kinds of complaints at Kanako, who was having a harder and harder time trying to calm them down. Eventually, she raised her hands and said in a louder than usual voice, "All right! All right! I have heard your complaints! For now, the construction of the movie theater will be put on hiatus. We will hold a meeting regarding this to decide what we should do next. Rest assure that we will give you the best possible response, so please do not be worried!"

Hearing this, a look of shock appeared on Akemi's face. "WHAT?!"

The people, on the other hand, were satisfied to hear this. After telling the goddess that she better make the best possible decision, they started to leave one by one until no one else was left behind the barricade. The goddess sighed with relief and then said, "That's that…"

"You can't be serious about this, Mistress Kanako?!" Akemi said to the goddess in disbelief. "You can't seriously be considering abandoning the project, can you?!"

"We'll have to have a meeting regarding this," Kanako told her. "In order to not make the villagers complain anymore, I think we should do it when we get back. Tell the workers that they can stop work for today." Akemi could not believe what she was hearing. This was something she did not expect at all.

Meanwhile, sitting on a tree branch not very far away, Shizuha had witnessed the whole scene and heard everything.

* * *

No sooner after returning to the science lab conference room, Kanako summoned the important members of the project to another meeting to talk about their course of action, seeing how the villagers were not satisfied with the process of their project.

"Now that you all know what the problem is, do you have any other suggestions on what we can do as an alternative? Or do we simply call a halt to this project for the time being?" Kanako asked the attendants.

The attendants then spent about a minute talking with each other, trying to come up with suggestions and ideas. Eventually, Nitori raised her hand, and Kanako told her to give her suggestion. "Since starting such a grand-scaled project right off the bat proved to be unwelcoming to the villagers," the kappa said, "perhaps we can start with a smaller-scaled one first? It's not like movie theaters always have to be big. You can simply build a small building that can fit about twenty or so people and play the movie there. You don't even need to have a building! You can simply arrange for the movie to be played in an empty lot. The only problem with the latter is that it really only works at night…"

"Her idea is just like that goddess's…" said Akemi while thinking of Shizuha.

"You have a good idea there, Nitori!" Kanako said with a nod. "Perhaps I was too ambitious and also in too much of a rush to renovate Gensokyo… I should've known by now that the people here have been living life like this for so long that it would be impossible to instantly force them to change… You're right; we should start off humble and small, and if the reception is good, we can introduce bigger and better things to them."

Rikako raised her hand and said, "I agree with Nitori. If we only care about ourselves and try to force our ideas into others, they won't like it. Furthermore, being a goddess, your existence is dependent on the faith of the people towards you. If your actions dissatisfy them, they will abandon faith in you, and that is dangerous for your existence."

"You're right about that as well…" Kanako said. "I was actually worried about that, too… Thanks for reminding me of it again… Okay, so it seems that everyone agrees with calling a halt to the project and going for a smaller-scaled one instead, right?"

Everyone accept for Akemi nodded, and the latter raised her arm and said, "But what about the clearing we made? You can't just leave it like that, can you?! We went through the trouble of cutting down the trees, and now we're going to abandon that place and make our hard work go to naught?!"

"It's unfortunate, but it can't be helped…" said Kanako, slowly shaking her head. "Since we are responsible for the clearing, we should also be responsible for changing it back to normal. I will send people to plant trees there once again."

Akemi, however, refused to let the project die so easily. "But all the time we spent on coming up with this project! We can't abandon it just like that, can we?! If that spot isn't satisfying enough, we can simply find a better place! I'm sure there are places the people don't mind if trees get cut down, right?"

"The outskirts of the Human Village are the best spots we can think of at the moment," Kanako told her. "We don't want people to have to travel so far to watch movies. There are no cars here, and you have to think of the danger of traveling through the woods, as demons that devour humans lurk in them. If you can come up with a suitable location, then I am willing to reconsider reviving the project in that place."

"Then you can bet on me to get this done!" Akemi said. "I will without doubt find the best location for the movie theater! In the meantime, please don't call off the project completely just yet! I will come back to you with a new location as soon as possible!" After saying that, Akemi rushed out of the room, despite Kanako telling her that the meeting wasn't over yet.

"Geez… Why is she so determined to build a movie theater…?" Kanako wondered.

"She's a very enthusiastic person," Rika told her. "She really is determined to renovate Gensokyo."

"I'm interested in doing that as well, but I also care for the wellbeing of the people here," Kanako said. "I can't force my interests into them. I need to do it in a way that can be accepted by them, but she's like… She basically wants to force her interests down people's throat… While having the passion to reach a goal is good, being too rushed may bring trouble in the end… Anyway, that's all for the meeting today. We will see if Akemi can come up with a good location first before deciding on the fate of this project."

After that, everyone stood up to leave the room.

* * *

Akemi rushed back into her workroom and wasted no time in pulling out a map of Gensokyo from her desk. She quickly scanned every single part of the map for the most suitable place to build the movie theater. "Let's see… Forest of Magic? They might do… In front of the Misty Lake and across the Scarlet Devil Mansion? The way there is too dangerous, I think… Garden of the Sun? Nah, that flower psycho is going to kill anyone who even thinks of it… Nameless Hill? Like anyone wants to go there… Spring Path? Hmmmm…"

After thinking about Spring Path, Akemi placed her fingers underneath her chin and thought for a while. "This place looks good… Not very far from the Human Village and also quite safe to get to… However, people seem to like the flowers there, so… Geez, why do people like flowers anyway? What can they do to them? Anyway, if I want to build the movie theater there, I may have to face the consequences of getting shouted by flower-lovers…"

Suddenly, an idea came to her, and then a malicious expression appeared on her face. "Heeheehee! I got it!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I know Shizuha didn't show up much in this chaper, even though the story revolves around her. Rest assure, however, that she will have a bigger role in the next chapter. I'm also excited to show you my portrayal of her! Get ready to feast your eyes on the way I imagine her to be like!

I think Sanae looks quite good with a ponytail after seeing how Saya (Sayamendo) draws her. Please be warned that you may run into NSFW materials if you plan to look for pictures drawn by him/her.


	3. Fiery Wrath of Nature

**Chapter 3wa  
Fiery Wrath of Nature**

* * *

The bell that marked the end of work sounded, and most of the workers of the science lab stopped whatever work they were doing to get ready to go back home.

Akemi, however, paid no attention to it, as she busy working on something. When someone knocked on the door, she quickly put away the thing she was working on underneath her desk, sat down behind the latter, and pretended that she was working on some documents. When she told the person to come in, Nitori opened the door and poked her head in. "It's time to call it a day," Nitori said to her. "Are you still working?"

"I'm working overtime," Akemi told her without raising her head. "You can go on ahead. Plus, I live here, so it's not like I have to leave this place."

"Right… Almost forgot… Good luck to you!" Nitori said before leaving and closing the door.

After the kappa was gone, Akemi locked the door before taking out the thing she was working on to continue with it. "She'll definitely know what this is and ask a lot of questions if she sees it," she said in her head. "Must make sure that nobody sees it!"

* * *

After about forty minutes, Akemi was finally with the thing she was working on—a backpack with a gun connected to it via a tube. She carried it on her back and walked around with it to see if it was easy to move around. "The weight is perfect!" she thought. "I can't wait to get this baby to work! Always wanted to do something like this! I'm totally going to enjoy burning down the flower field of Spring Path and make people think that it was destroyed in a fire accident, and then I should be able to get the permission to build the movie theater there! Heeheehee!"

She checked the clock to see that it was about 6:10 P.M. "The time to do this looks about right," she thought. "Going out too late is dangerous, as demons tend to be more active at night."

* * *

Shizuha and Minoriko had finished eating dinner at a restaurant in the Human Village. They normally cook and eat at home, but today, they decided to eat outside instead. "That was a great meal!" Minoriko said to her older sister as they both walked down the path heading for the outside of the village. "It's been a while since we ate outside, so I wasn't aware that outside world food has become more and more common here! They sure taste great, don't they?"

"Yeah," Shizuha said with a nod.

As they were heading for the outside of the village, they saw Akemi walking ahead of them. When they finally got outside, Akemi went to a pickup truck parked nearby and then drove away. The sisters watched the truck disappear into the darkness of the night, and Shizuha said, "The direction she's heading in… Hmmm…"

"What's wrong, sis?" Minoriko asked her.

"You'd think that a person like her either lives in the village or the science lab, but the direction she's driving in, as far as I'm concerned, are not places suitable for humans to live in," Shizuha said. "Where exactly is she going?"

"Maybe her home is indeed in that direction," Minoriko said.

"Maybe, but something tells me that things are not that simple…" the older sister said.

"You're thinking too much, sis," Minoriko said to her. "Anyway, let's go home now."

The two turned to the direction of Youkai Mountain and walked in that direction, but Shizuha stopped after a few steps and then looked back at the direction Akemi headed for.

* * *

Akemi arrived at the place known as Spring Path. It was a very long path going through a massive field of pink flowers. Since it was autumn, however, there weren't many flowers.

Akemi stepped down from her truck and then went to the back of it to get the flamethrower she made. Putting it on her back, she walked in front of the flower field and said, "Heheh! It's time to start burning! Burn, baby, burn!"

She got ready to pull the trigger when she suddenly heard someone speaking to her from behind. "Did I just hear you say something about burning?" asked the voice. The voice sounded familiar to Akemi, and hearing it sent a chill down her spine. She slowly turned her head around and was horrified to realize that her fear was true.

Standing behind her were three people. The first one was a scythe-wielding blond woman wearing a dark red dress and a pink hat, the second one was a winged blond woman in black and white overalls, and the third one was a woman with long green hair dressed in red, plaid clothing. "Cripes…" Akemi said to herself while looking at the third woman.

The green-haired woman, Yuuka Kazami, walked towards the trembling Akemi and asked her, "May I ask you what you plan to do to these flowers? I believe I heard you saying that you were going to burn them, right?"

"Um… Actually… I plan to spray insecticide at these flowers to get rid of pests…" Akemi nervously lied to her. "This pesticide is very strong. Getting hit by it feels just like getting burned…"

"How can you be sure of that? Have you touched the pesticide yourself that you can tell that it feels like getting burned?" Yuuka asked her.

"No… It's just that when I was testing it on some insects, they act as if they were being burned when they came in contact with it…" Akemi told her.

"Really? You know? I find it strange… People don't spray insecticides on flowers, as they want insects to pollinate them," Yuuka said to her. "You're the first person I ever heard of who wants to spray insecticides at flowers, you know that?"

Thinking that her lie wasn't working, Akemi became even more nervous. "What do I do…?" she said in her head. "Even if I managed to burn the flowers and then get out of here, these witnesses will tell everyone the truth, and then I'll never be able to build the movie theater…"

Yuuka stepped up closer to her and said in a voice that seemed threatening, "What exactly are you doing? Are you telling me that you plan to burn these flowers? These flowers may not belong to me, but I will not accept flowers of any kind being harmed right before my eyes, whether or not they belong to me. Exactly what do you have in your mind?"

"Um… Will you let me go if I tell you the truth…?" Akemi asked her.

Yuuka thought for a while and then said, "If I feel like it… It all depends on my mood."

"Okay… Well… Um… You see… These flowers… They have been confirmed to be poisonous…" Akemi told her. "Their pollens get spread all over the place by the wind easily, and one can get poisoned because of this, so I am sent to burn them all in order to prevent such a thing from…" Before she could finish speaking, Yuuka suddenly picked her up by the neck using only one hand. "Ack!

"Don't lie to a flower expert like me!" Yuuka said to her. "I know more about flowers more than you ever will! These kinds of flowers are in no way poisonous at all! You're just trying to come up with an excuse to hide your true intentions! You can't possibly have a good intention for wanting to burn these flowers! I might as well break your neck right here and now for even thinking of doing something like this!"

Seeing that there was no way out of this using reasoning, Akemi, without any hesitation, pulled the trigger of the gun and shot a stream of fire at Yuuka's feet. The demon screamed as she let go of Akemi and tried to put out the flames by hitting it with her parasol. Yuuka's two servants quickly ran up to their mistress in panic to help her, while Akemi made a run for her pickup truck.

The winged girl, Kurumi, turned to look at Akemi and said, "How dare you harm our mistress?! You won't get away with this!" Spreading out her wings, the vampire flew at Akemi very fast and caught her by the shoulders.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Akemi shouted as she tried to break free from Kurumi's grasp, but to no avail. The vampire brought her back to Yuuka, who had the lower right part of her pants torn off in order to avoid letting the fire spread all over her body.

The vampire dropped Akemi in front of Yuuka, who furiously picked her up by the hair and said, "You'll pay with your life for this!"

All of a sudden, Shizuha flew in from the side, hitting Yuuka in the side of the waist with a flying kick that made the latter drop Akemi and fly into the flower field.

"MISTRESS YUUKA!" gasped Yuuka's servants upon seeing this.

Shizuha picked up Akemi and said to her, "Get out of here quick!" Akemi nodded, and then they both ran for the pickup truck.

The scythe-wielding woman, Elly, turned to them and said, "You're not getting away!" Then she threw her scythe at them. Realizing that this was coming, Shizuha quickly pushed Akemi to the ground and ducked herself as well. The scythe spun through the air like a boomerang and then returned to its owner.

"You get away first! I'll keep them busy!" Shizuha told Akemi.

"Why are you helping me? How do you know that I'm here, too?" Akemi asked her.

"Do you need a reason for helping someone? I saw you heading in a direction where humans usually don't go, so I decided to follow you and see what you're up to," Shizuha told her. Shortly after saying this, Elly ran at Shizuha and brought down her scythe at her, but the goddess swiftly jumped to the side.

After landing, Shizuha swung her leg at Elly, but the latter blocked the kick with the handle of her scythe. She tried to hit her with the blade afterwards, but the goddess leaped up high into the air and landed behind her. Elly continued to try to hit her, but Shizuha kept on jumping around. "Stand still and let me hit you!" Elly said in frustration. Suddenly, the goddess attacked her with a flying kick to the back and knocked her forward. "OOF!"

Meanwhile, Akemi made it back to her pickup truck. After quickly putting her flamethrower onto the back of the truck, she climbed inside the latter and started the engines.

Suddenly, a hand smashed through the window next to her, causing her to scream. Kurumi pulled out the screaming Akemi out through the window and flung her onto the ground. "Just because someone came to help you doesn't mean you can get away so easily!" the vampire said to her in a threatening tone.

Akemi crawled back slowly while trembling in fear, and then she quickly got up and reached for the flamethrower, but Kurumi charged forward and pushed her onto the ground. "I'm going to suck your blood dry!" the vampire said to her before baring her fangs.

Akemi felt a stone next to her hand, and out of desperation, she picked it up and smashed it against the side of Kurumi's head, causing her to fall to the side and cry in pain. Akemi used this opportunity to get up and go for the flamethrower. However, while she was still carrying it in front of herself, Kurumi had already recovered from the hit and was glaring and growling at her, so she quickly ran from her without bothering to put it onto her back first.

Meanwhile, Shizuha and Elly were still fighting each other. The goddess kept on jumping around to avoid the gatekeeper's scythe swings and would throw leaves at her in a manner like throwing shurikens once in a while, but Elly either avoided or blocked them with her scythe.

"You really like to move around, don't you?" Elly said after blocking another set of leaves.

"Give me a good reason for standing still that doesn't have anything to do with letting you hit me," Shizuha told her.

"I've got one, and that's Mistress Yuuka's patience will grow thin if this fight goes nowhere!" Elly said before charging at the goddess with her scythe raised over her right shoulder.

"Fine, I'll make this fight progress, then," Shizuha told her. When Elly closed in on her and swung down her scythe, Shizuha swiftly stepped to the side and then kneed her in the abdomen hard, so hard that the former lost her grip on the scythe and was sent slightly into the air. Shizuha quickly followed up with a powerful kick that shot her diagonally into the sky.

Running after the airborne gatekeeper, the goddess performed an amazing leap at her and kicked her in the chin, which was then followed by an axe kick to the head that sent Elly shooting back to the ground.

SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

Shizuha landed in front of Elly, who was out cold on her front, and then she turned to look at Yuuka, who had a somewhat impressed of look on her face. "Not bad!" the demon commented. "I've never seen this side of you, goddess of red leaves. I didn't know you were this skilled in physical combats!"

"Let's just say that kicking trees every autumn isn't something that can be easily done without proper workout," Shizuha told her.

Yuuka then raised her hand and moved and bent her fingers in a manner that implied she was ready to use force. "Well, then let's see if you're up to the challenge of facing me! By the way, why are you helping that person? Do you or do you not realize that she wants to burn this flower field?"

"I heard it, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and let you kill or mangle her," Shizuha said as she got into fighting stance.

"You sure have a heart of gold for wanting to help someone, but you should also know that people who get themselves involved in other people's businesses usually don't live long," Yuuka said as she slowly approached the goddess.

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!" screamed Akemi all of a sudden. Shizuha and Yuuka turned to her and saw her running like crazy from Kurumi, who was flying after her.

"Get back here and let me suck your blood!" Kurumi shouted at her, and then she fired a pair of blood red beams at Akemi, but the latter managed to dodge them by moving side to side.

"I better help her first!" Shizuha thought, and then she ran in Kurumi's direction.

"Are you forgetting that you're supposed to be facing me?" Yuuka said before stomping the ground. Suddenly, a vine shot up from the part of the ground in front of her, went after Shizuha at a fast speed, and caught her by the right foot. The goddess fell to the ground and looked at her bounded foot while tugging it to try to free it from the vine.

Akemi's foot hit a rock and fell forward. Instead of falling down, however, she hopped forward a few steps using her other foot in an attempt to keep herself from falling, and after managing to plant that foot against the ground, she spun around and faced Kurumi in an attempt to balance herself. The vampire fired another pair of beams at her, hitting the flamethrower.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion set Akemi on fire and propelled her backwards, and despite being a bit of a distance away from the explosion, the force of it still sent Kurumi flying back. When she came to a stop, she looked at the fire left behind and said, "Haha! And this is why you don't play with fire! Too bad I probably won't be able to suck her blood anymore…"

"Oh no!" Shizuha gasped upon seeing the sight.

"That's one pest out of the way," Yuuka said. "A pest to those flowers, that is. Now let this be a lesson to you for sticking your nose into other people's matters!" With a flick of her finger in her own direction, the vine pulled Shizuha to the demon at a fast speed.

Yuuka caught Shizuha by the hair, and when the vine let go of her leg, she slammed the latter against the ground over and over violently back and forth before flinging her forward. The goddess tumbled against the ground violently before coming to a stop. When she got up and looked at Yuuka, the latter made a pair of vines grow out from the ground and swing at her, but she quickly took out and threw a pair of leaves at them to slice them.

After that, Shizuha stood up and threw a large amount of leaves at Yuuka, but the demon stood still and did nothing but let the vines do the job of deflecting them. The vines then went after the goddess, deflecting the leaves while doing so. Shizuha quickly created a large amount of leaves that covered her entirely, and when the vines pierced through the "wall of leaves", she was nowhere to be found.

Yuuka was surprised by this, and she was even more surprised when a large amount of leaves suddenly appeared and spun around her. "Whatever trick you're going to pull off, it won't work against me!" Yuuka said to her. "The power of nature is also on my side! Having command over leaves doesn't make you superior to someone who has command over plan…" Before she could finish speaking, Shizuha shot through the leaves from behind and kicked her in the back of the head, sending her out of the leaves and falling face first onto the ground.

The goddess bounced back into the air, spinning once, and threw a large amount of leaves at Yuuka, striking her in the back rapidly. The demon growled in anger as she rolled out of the way and pointed her parasol at her. The tip of the parasol glowed with bright light, and then a huge bluish beam was fired at Shizuha, who quickly dropped altitude to avoid getting hit by it.

When the beam ended, Yuuka stood up and said to her, "It's been a while since I used that move, and I'm wondering if it was really worth it using that against you. Admittedly, I underestimated, but now that I know you're no pushover, I will fight you more seriously than before! You should be glad that I wasn't serious just now!"

Shizuha got into fighting stance and said in her head, "I can't waste my time fighting here! Akemi will die soon if I don't do something fast! Did she even survive that explosion?" She looked in Akemi's direction, only to find that she was no longer there. "Eh? Where'd she go?"

Yuuka suddenly heard someone calling out to her from behind. "I think this would be enough for the day, Yuuka." The demon turned around to see that it was Reimu, and Minoriko was standing not too far behind her. Kurumi was seen lying not too far away, beaten up and unconscious.

"Minoriko!" Shizuha said upon seeing her younger sister.

"Well, looks like the Hakurei shrine maiden is here to save the day," Yuuka said to Reimu.

"You better stop now, Yuuka," Reimu said to her. "I don't feel like fighting at the moment, but if you insist on keeping it up, then I have no choice but to use force. Whatever the problem is, we can settle things in a nonviolent manner."

"Well, now that the person who intends to burn this flower field has been taken care of, I suppose that what I want to do in the first place has been accomplished." Yuuka said. "While it would be fun to fight you, I'm not someone who is unreasonable and always wants to pick fights." She then turned to Shizuha. "You're lucky that the shrine maiden came to save your hide. Even though you're immortal, you still won't like the painful experience you'll get from me! Well, I had fun for the night! Looks like it was the right idea to come out for a walk after dinner after all! Flowers would be dead if it weren't for me! All right, see ya!"

Yuuka then went over to her servants and nudged them with her foot until they woke up, and then they left the scene. Minoriko ran up to Shizuha and asked her, "Are you all right, sis?"

"I'm all right," Shizuha replied. "You went to find the Hakurei shrine maiden?"

"I met her some time after you were gone," Minoriko told her. "She was with Marisa, and when I saw them passing them, I went to tell them about what happened, and after a bit of urging, they finally decided to come and check things out."

"Looks like it was the right idea to come after all," Reimu said as she walked up to Shizuha. "Things wouldn't have been pleasant here if Marisa didn't urge me to have dinner with her at the village… Now would you please tell me what happened just now?"

"Before that, where's Akemi?" Shizuha asked her.

"You mean the person that was on fire earlier?" Reimu asked. "Marisa took her to Eientei. Luckily, she picked up water from the village's well and had it in a large bucket that she carried on her back, so she used it to put out the fire on her. But as for that one…" She turned to look at the fire left behind by the explosion. "Something has to be done about that…"

Reimu approached the fire and then placed a paper amulet on the ground before performing a hand sign to make a box-shaped barrier appear around on it. "This should keep the fire from spreading. We'll just let it burn up the oxygen inside to let it put itself out."

* * *

News of what happened to Akemi quickly reached Kanako, and she wasted no time in rushing over to Eientei, where Akemi currently was, to see things for herself.

The goddess went into the building and asked one of the rabbit demons there for the direction and permission to see Akemi, but the latter told her that Akemi was being treated at the moment and that she would have to wait outside the operation room.

Kanako went over to the entrance of the operation room and saw Reimu, Marisa, and the Aki Sisters standing there, and she said to them, "I rushed here as soon as I heard what happened. What exactly happened? How did Akemi get herself into such a horrible accident?"

"I can explain to you everything," Shizuha told her, and then she told her everything that happened during the night.

"How could she think of doing such a thing…?" Kanako said in disbelief while thinking of the part where Akemi tried to burn the flower field. "What merit is there in burning the flower field?" Suddenly, something came to her, but before she could say it out loud, Eirin stepped out of the door to the operation room.

Everyone quickly gathered around her, and Kanako asked her, "Doctor, how is Akemi?"

Eirin replied after taking off her operation mask, "Third-degree burns may not be even enough to describe how terrible things are… Her skin is more or less entirely destroyed! It's a miracle that she's even alive! Luckily, I have developed a potion that is capable of regeneration damaged tissues and skin, given that the damage isn't made a long time ago. Her organs are mostly intact, but badly burned. I guess being propelled backwards by the explosion saved her from having her organs burned and blown up."

"Will she survive?" Kanako asked her.

"I have confident that I can make her live through this, but I'm afraid that she won't be able to live a normal life from now on," Eirin told her.

"Why?" Marisa asked.

Eirin lowered her face slightly and then lifted it back up. "Both her arms were gone. The explosion must've taken them away. As advanced as my medical skills are, I cannot regenerate lost body parts, and I do not have spare body parts to replace the missing arms either."

"This is horrible…!" Minoriko said as tears slowly flowed down the corner of her eyes.

"In the very least, I can restore her appearance back to normal," Eirin said. "I'm also an expert in cosmetic and plastic surgeries. Why else do you think I look so young and attractive?" She delivered the last line while smiling, winking, and tilting her head at the same time.

"Yeah, I can see that…" Reimu commented.

"So she will survive, right?" Kanako asked her.

Eirin nodded. "Yes, I'm sure she will survive, but like I said, she won't be able to live a normal life without her arms. I hope she'll be able to cope with this…"

* * *

Now that everything was settled for the meantime, the girls left Eientei and then went their own ways.

As the Aki Sisters were flying through the air, Minoriko talked about what happened. "I really do hope that she'll be all right. I can't believe that such a horrible thing happened to her… I wonder if she'll be able to cope with the lack of arms after she is conscious…"

"That's what she deserves for trying to burn a flower field, but I do pity her as well," Shizuha said. "Still, you can't deny the fact that trying to burn a flower field in front of a flower-loving demon is a dumb idea."

"She wasn't expecting Yuuka to show up at all, so you can't blame her," Minoriko said. "However, you're right; she really shouldn't have thought of wanting to burn a flower field. I wonder why she would even think of doing that in the first place.

Shizuha remained silent when her sister mentioned the last line, as she actually had an idea on why Akemi would want to do that.

* * *

Eirin and her assistants worked hard nonstop to help Akemi recover. After an entire week, their hard work finally paid off, and then the Lunarian doctor contacted Kanako, telling her that Akemi had pretty much recovered and that she could come and see her the next day.

The goddess wasted no time in rushing over to Eientei the next day with Nitori, Suwako, and Sanae. They went into the sickroom and saw Reisen standing in front of a curtain. The lunar rabbit pushed aside the curtain to reveal Eirin standing next to a bed with Akemi on it. Her appearance was restored, though a rough, imperfect spot could be seen on the left side of her face. The most notable thing about her is that she lacked arms.

"Thanks goodness you're all right!" Nitori said as she walked up to her with the other three. "I thought you were done for! You really had me worried!"

"It's great to see you conscious again, Akemi!" Kanako told her. "Let's hope you return to top condition soon!"

"Top condition? Without my arms?" Akemi said in a somewhat sad tone with her face lowered. "Is that supposed to be some kind of an insult?"

"Please don't say that! Mistress Kanako would never insult you!" Sanae said to her.

"I guess my choice of words just now wasn't exactly the best… Sorry about that…" Kanako apologized to Akemi. "Anyway, it's good to know that you're awake! You should be glad that you got to live to see another day!"

"She should stay until tomorrow to make sure that everything is all right first," Eirin told Kanako and the other three.

"Thank you so much for saving her life!" Kanako said to her. "I'm really in your debt!"

"I'm a doctor, so it is my responsibility to save people's life," Eirin told her.

Nitori patted Akemi on the shoulder. "Don't worry; I'm sure we can make you live a normal life without your arms! I'll try to come up with a way to make up for your lack of arms!"

Hearing the last line, something came to Akemi, so she raised her head and looked at her. "You can come up with a replacement for my arms?"

"I can't really promise that, but at least I'll try to make it so that your life isn't so tough without arms," Nitori replied.

"Then if it isn't too hard for you, can you please create cybernetic arms for me?" Akemi asked her.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I believe I started thinking Shizuha as a skilled martial artist when I saw a fan art of her in a fighting stance. I eventually saw a MUGEN video of her on Youtube that had her fight like a martial artist. When Symposium of Post-mysticism was released, it said that she kicks trees to make leaves fall, so I imagined her to be very skilled with kicking techniques and that she is quite strong in order to make leaves fall just by kicking the trees.

I'm using Yuuka's PC-98 design here. While I like short-haired girls more, I think long hair suits Yuuka more, though depending on the artist drawing her, she also looks good with short hair.

People who played Touhou 4 might feel like pointing out to me that Kurumi's attacks are colored white. She actually has that beam attack in the game, and it makes bullets fly out afterwards. I intentionally made the beam red, because as far as I remember, most or all enemy projectiles in the PC-98 series are either pure white or have colored linings around them. Because of this, I decided to take some creative approach to make the PC-98 characters and their attacks stand out more.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

God bless you all!


	4. Metal Arms

**Chapter 4  
Metal Arms**

* * *

Kourindou was that one place the residents of Gensokyo would go to if they wanted to see items from the outside world. The owner of the store, Rinnosuke, claimed to have lots of knowledge when it comes to outside world items and knew at first glance what they were capable of. Despite this, he did not exactly know how to operate them, and his supposedly accurate claims of what they were capable of were not always accurate and were at times exaggerated.

Shizuha had become more and more curious about the outside world after getting to know Akemi. From her conversation with her the first time, Shizuha could tell that she really didn't like the kind of life that the residents of Gensokyo were living, so this made her wonder how life was really like in the outside world. As a result, she was at Kourindou to see if she could find the answer to that herself.

The goddess walked around the place, looking at the various outside world items placed on the shelves and tables. She was familiar with some of the things, but there were some that she was unfamiliar with or had never seen before. Picking up a handheld device that had two screens, she said to Rinnosuke, who was standing behind the counter, without turning her head, "I've seen this kind of thing before, but the one I saw had both its screens the same size. This one has the upper screen larger than the bottom one. Is it a new model?"

"According to Yukari, that is supposed to be an entirely different device, but it is still related to the one you said having both screens the same size," Rinnosuke replid. "Like the one you said, it is capable of creating artificial worlds and creatures and then controlling and destroying them. Being able to do such incredible things… Thanks goodness it doesn't involve the real world…"

Shizuha put the handheld device away and then continued looking at the various items. She then asked Rinnosuke, "Do you know how life in the outside world is like?"

"Well, to be honest, I don't know the answer to that either," Rinnosuke replied. "I myself have never gone to the outside world. I tried to emulate the kind of lifestyle there by making use of the items I have, but it seems that I cannot truly obtain that kind of feeling they have out there. What I mean is… you can't seem to truly understand how life in the outside world is like unless you live there yourself. Simply having outside world items isn't enough. I also can't use some of the items properly… I'm sorry that I couldn't answer your question…"

"It's all right," Shizuha said as she turned to him. "I can get answers elsewhere. Thanks for letting me take a look around here! The collection here has grown since the last time I came here, and there are more and more things I haven't seen before, too!"

"You're welcome to come here whenever you want to! The collection here grows every once in a while, so you should come often if you want to see new things!" Rinnosuke told her.

The goddess stepped outside Kourindou and then took flight. As she was soaring through the sky, she tried to think of people she knew that came here from the outside world to see if they could give her an answer regarding how life was like out there. "Perhaps the wind priestess can help," she thought, and so she headed for Youkai Mountain.

* * *

"How life is like in the outside world?" Sanae curiously said when Shizuha asked her the question, and the latter nodded. "Well, let me think… Honestly saying, I've been here for quite a while that I'm actually starting to forget how life was like out there… Things must've changed a lot ever since I came here…"

"Can you tell me what you remember?" Shizuha asked her.

"Let me think…" Sanae said with her finger placed against her face. "Young people out there go to school to study and obtain knowledge… I also went to school, and I remember not getting along very well with the students there. None of them believe in the existence of supernatural stuff and deities, so they laugh at me when I tell them about Mistress Kanako and Mistress Suwako. In fact, almost everyone out there no longer believes in gods, demons, ghosts, and other supernatural things. People who believe in those things tend to get laughed at. You know, thinking about this makes me mad, because it reminds me of the days I got laughed at!"

"Um… You don't have to say anything anymore if it makes you mad… It's all right…" Shizuha said to her.

"And speaking of school, I was never really that good in my studies, so my grades tend to be below average," Sanae continued. "My teacher lectured me often, and some of the students would laugh at me for not being bright. They keep on calling me a weirdo! Also, what's wrong with girls liking science fiction and mecha anime? Who said girls must always like dolls, ponies, and cute stuff? I prefer giant robots, space, and other kinds of awesome stuff that attract boys! The female students in my class called me a weirdo for liking things boys like, so they stay away from me! Is there no freedom in this world anymore?!"

The wind priestess continued to rant angrily about her not-so-pleasant life in the outside world. Shizuha, not wanting to hear her rant anymore, told her that she was going to take her leave, and then she left, but she also thanked her for sharing a bit of information.

"Not sure if she was the best person to ask about this…" the goddess said in her head. "From the sound of it, life outside may not be all that pleasing… If that really is so, then why does Akemi hate life here so much that she wants to make it more like the outside world? Maybe it's like what Rinnosuke said: you can't truly understand how life in the outside world is like unless you live there yourself."

* * *

At the science lab, Kanako and Akemi were together in a room, the former sitting in front of a business desk, and she didn't look too pleased. "I would never have thought that you would go this far to try to build a movie theater!" Kanako said to Akemi, who didn't dare look up. "Trying to obtain a construction spot through burning a flower field? I would never accept that! Just because I want to renovate Gensokyo doesn't mean I'm willing to destroy nature in such a way to achieve my goal! Are you listening to me?"

Akemi nodded slightly without raising her head.

"Look what you ended up doing trying to burn the field! You made a foolish decision that nearly took your life!" Kanako continued. "Anyway, the plan to build a movie theater will be put on hiatus for now. There are several other ways we can try if we want the people here to become interested in the outside world. From now on, you are not allowed to make your own rash decisions without commands from your superiors! Did you hear everything I said?"

"Yes…" Akemi said without raising her head.

"I hope you understood everything and will learn from a lesson. By the way, I will grant you your request of having cybernetic arms," Kanako told her. "Our scientists will try their best to make them for you, but please do know that they can't guarantee it making your life easier. You will have to cope with your way of living if that's the case."

"I will," Akemi said.

"I do hope that they succeed and that you can still live a normal life and continue working here," Kanako said to her. "You are smart, talented, and enthusiastic, so not having you working with us… Let's just say that you are an important part of us, so we wish that you can continue working with us to make Gensokyo a better place."

"I will. This is the only place here that I like," Akemi told her. "Even if I can no longer work for you, I still wish to live here."

"I can try to arrange for you to be sent back to the outside world, too," Kanako told her. "It depends on if Yukari is in the mood to help you, though… She's not the kind of person who can be convinced easily…"

There was a knock on the door, so Kanako told the person to come in. Nitori poked her head into the room and said, "Excuse me for interrupting you, but we need Akemi here in order to determine the measurements for the cybernetic arms."

"Oh, then she can go with you," Kanako told her. "Go now, Akemi. This is your chance to have arms once again!"

"Okay," Akemi said as she stood up. "I'll be taking my leave now."

"Good luck!" Kanako said to her.

* * *

Nitori and Akemi went into a room where Rikako and a few scientists were. "They want the arms to suit you perfectly and comfortably," Nitori said to Akemi. "Therefore, they need more information on your body build in order to determine the size and appearance of the arms."

"Can I ask for the arms to have, like, shapeshifting functions?" Akemi asked. "Make it transform into things like swords, guns, and more! It would be cool if it can extend and retract like the mechanical arms in your backpack, too!"

"You sure are asking for a lot…" Rikako said when she heard what Akemi said. "For now, let's just determine the measurements of the arms first, and then we'll go into details and what sort of functions it can have."

* * *

Days passed by in Gensokyo, and life was quiet and normal for the residents.

Farmers continued to harvest their crops, while Minoriko continued giving them their blessings. Shizuha continued to wander around the place, looking for trees that still had their leaves and then kicking them to make the latter fall down.

Reimu continued to spent time in her shrine through eating and sleeping, though she would occasionally sweep away the leaves in the yard if Ruukoto was busy with cleaning up other things. Marisa and Suika occasionally paid her visits, and the latter ended up living in her shrine. When Reimu asked her when she was going to leave, the oni replied that she would be staying until she felt like leaving, and that it might be around next year.

Shizuha occasionally went to Kourindou to see if there were anything new. One time, she met Yukari, who brought back some new things from the outside world. Seeing that this was the perfect opportunity to learn more about the outside world, Shizuha asked the demon of boundaries for information about it. Luckily for her, Yukari was in a good mood, so she answered her question.

There was one time when Shizuha went to Keine to talk to her about Akemi. Since Keine was the first person Akemi really got to know when the latter came to Gensokyo, Shizuha figured that the were-hakutaku would know a lot about her.

While all this was happening, Akemi's cybernetic arms were being designed by the scientists in the lab. The final design and the functions it would have were decided, so the scientists got busy with developing the arms.

While the arms were being developed, Akemi continued her days in the lab, doing nothing but relaxing. Due to being armless, she had to be served by people in more or less every matter, such as eating and opening doors. She didn't like this kind of life, as not being able to do certain things by herself proved to be frustrating. Not a single day went by did she wished for the cybernetic arms to be finished soon.

After a month of waiting, her patience finally paid off…

* * *

"Well, what do you think?" Rikako asked Akemi, who was looking at her arms in awe. "This is the first time we did something related to attaching mechanical parts to flesh, so we're not sure if it's perfect or not. Maybe you should try moving them around to see if you find them comfortable or not."

Akemi couldn't believe it. Not only did she have arms once again, but they were mechanical arms. Because of this, her arms stood out from the rest of her body in the way that they were metallic and gray. Despite being made of metal, the arms were as light as ordinary arms, so Akemi found that she had no problem moving and swinging them around. In fact, movement was very flexible, so it felt as if her arms were real.

"I can't believe it… I actually have… cybernetic arms!" Akemi said in disbelief. "They feel… They feel… great!"

Rikako and the scientists who helped smiled. "Good to hear that you like it!" Rikako said to her. "We also gave you some of the functions you wish for it to have, and they can be performed as easily as thinking!"

"Really? Awesome! What are the functions it has?" Akemi asked her.

"Well, for starters…" Rikako said as two scientists brought over a whiteboard that had a blueprint of her cybernetic arms on it. "Since you do lots of engineering work here, we'd figure that it would be convenient for you if you can change your hands into various kinds of tools, such as a wrench, a hammer, and a screwdriver."

"Really?" Akemi said as she looked at her hand, and suddenly, it changed into a screwdriver. "Whoa!"

"See? You only have to think to make it change!" Rikako told her.

"This is so cool!" Akemi exclaimed with sparkling eyes.

"For self-defense, we also allowed them to change into blades. No, arm cannons weren't implemented, as we didn't find the need for them," Rikako continued. "Another function is that you can extend the length of your hands up fifteen meters. We could have made it longer, but there wasn't enough space inside your arm for storing the wire. Speaking of which, we used a special kind of wire that is very flexible and can carry heavy objects without snapping, and speaking of heavy objects, your arms allow you to carry objects that are several times your weight with little effort. I believe you can carry up to one hundred kilograms without breaking a sweat.

"Another thing to remind you is that each of your arms is installed with a special kind of computer chip that allows them to perform tasks faster than your usual speed, not to mention with better precision. Something that normally takes an hour to complete can be completed faster if you're the one doing it!"

"Wow! I can't believe this is real!" Akemi said while looking at her arms. "This is too good to be true!"

* * *

A short while had passed, and Akemi had already left the room where she was given the cybernetic arms. She walked into the room where the workers hang out during break periods. There, they spent their time watching television, reading the newspaper and magazines, playing board games and handheld games, and eating snacks. Akemi intentionally clapped her hands together to make the sound of metal hitting against each other, and then the workers turned to her and saw her cybernetic arms, so several of them crowded around her in excitement and curiosity to look at her brand new arms.

"Wow! You actually got yourself cybernetic arms!"

"Can I touch it?"

"This is so cool!"

"How do they feel like?"

"Please let me take a picture of them!"

"Please let me take a picture with you!"

"I've never seen something like this before!"

"Awesome!"

"What can you do with them?"

Akemi felt great being able to attract lots of attention and getting praised nonstop. Since nobody in Gensokyo had cybernetic body parts, she felt very special being the first person ever in this place to have them. To show off to the workers what she could do, she lifted a nearby table into the air by one of its legs using only one hand, a feat that made everyone clap hands nonstop.

After placing the table back down, Akemi took out a coin and then extended her hand in the direction of a vending machine, inserted the coin into its coin slot, pressed a button, and then grabbed the can of juice that came out of the bottom before retracting her hand. Once again, everyone was amazed and clapped hands nonstop upon seeing this.

"This feels good!" Akemi said as she opened the can to drink from it. "I can listen to them praise me all day!"

* * *

A short while passed, and the workers went back to doing their own businesses. Akemi walked up to the sofa and sat down on it to watch TV. She flipped through the channels using the remote control until she came across a news report talking about how the body of a man was found in a forest. Investigation revealed that this man accidentally drove off the cliff in his car and rolled down a tall cliff before crashing into the forest. He survived several days in the forest, trying to find his way back to civilization, but finally succumbed to injuries and malnutrition when he was only about half a mile from a town.

"Poor guy…" said a fairy was who sitting next to Akemi. "He was so close to making it…" Then she noticed Akemi standing up and leaving.

Akemi returned to her office. Sitting down behind her desk, she thought of the news report she just saw earlier with her head lowered, about how the man survived several days in the forest, trying to find his way out, only to die in the end.

The more she thought about this, the more she started to think of something specific, and the more she thought about that, the more her body trembled and sweated. In her mind, she saw trees… Trees everywhere…

Then she saw the wrecked remains of a plane that was still releasing smoke… Then she saw injured people…

The more she thought about this, the more violently her body trembled, and then her head fell to the desk with her hands on top of the former.

She saw a wild animal… A large cat… A jaguar, to be precise…

Then she heard a roar… It was followed by screams…

Then she heard herself calling out to her father…

She saw two children and a woman running…

Wild animals everywhere…

There were screams…

A dead body…

Another dead body…

She heard herself crying out to her mother, and then to her older brother…

More screams…

Finally, she saw her younger self sitting inside a hollow tree, crying bitterly, while a violent storm raged on outside.

Suddenly, Akemi woke up with a scream and with sweat running down all over her body. Breathing heavily, she looked around to see that she was still in her office. After wiping off the sweat on her face with a piece of cloth, Akemi lowered her head slightly and started to think of something.

"The reason I studied architecture, science and technology, engineering, and various other related courses… The reason I took all those courses…" she said in her head. "It's all for… It's…" Then she raised her head slightly, her face showing a somewhat malicious-looking expression. "I will cut down all the trees in the world! I will either kill or lock up every single wild animal in this world! I will make every inhabitable place in the world habitable! I will remove nature from the face of the world entirely! I will industrialize the WHOLE WORLD! THE WHOLE WORLD!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Just to make it clear, Akemi did not lose her arms up the shoulders. She only lost her arms up to the part a bit below the shoulders.

Having two cybernetic arms may make some people think of Jax from the Mortal Kombat series, but I can't say he is my inspiration for giving her cybernetic arms. I originally intended for her to develop some kind of superhuman ability due to an accident, but somehow, that idea changed into giving her a mechanical arm. It was supposed to be only one arm, but after brainstorming for ways for her to lose her arm, I ended up making her lose both her arms in the way you saw in the previous chapter, so the Jax reference is actually unintentional.


	5. Menace of Metal

**SBS Time!  
ngrey651: **If they're concerned that there's something screwy with this woman, shouldn't they investigate her? Look up her background? Look up her history and see if she has, like, a history of violence with anti-nature riots or the like? And if she does, wouldn't you want her out of your town, because you'd want to pick someone who WOULDN'T go postal at the sight of parrots and posies? And why would you give cybernetic arms to someone who just took a FLAMETHROWER to a flower field?  
**Game2002: **I didn't think about those things in the first place, and even if I did, I wouldn't try to take them seriously; otherwise, it's going to be very hard making progress with the , I don't think wanting to burn a flower field is enough to make them want to look into Akemi's past.

**Chapter 5  
Menace of Metal**

* * *

Six children were walking along the river that flowed from the direction of Youkai Mountain, and some of them were carrying sweet potatoes.

"I don't see any leaves… Only a few pieces…" one of the children said.

"And we came all the way from the Human Village to this place to look for them, because there were none back there…" another one of the children said. "Looks like we came here for naught…"

Another child looked at the top of the trees and said, "The trees are all bare… I don't think we can roast sweet potatoes anymore… Looks like we'll have to tell our parents to roast them for us at home…"

"Awwww… I was waiting for so long to roast sweet potatoes using dried leaves…" a little girl said as tears slowly came down from the corner of her eyes. "I don't want to wait until next fall to do this…"

"I can't be helped…" said the oldest child. "Anyway, let's head back. It's dangerous if we keep on going forward. Demons will show up sooner or later… In fact, we shouldn't even be coming here without adults…"

Just as the kids were turning to leave, there was a gust of wind that sent several leaves flying in their direction, and they piled up together in front of their eyes. "Look! Leaves!" a child pointed out.

"The amount is enough for roasting sweet potatoes!" the oldest one happily said.

"Yay! We can roast sweet potatoes at last!" the little girl exclaimed while jumping up and down.

The children wasted no time in bringing out matches to light up the pile of leaves to roast the sweet potatoes. Unknown to them, Shizuha was watching from behind a tree not too far away, smiling while watching them enjoy roasting the sweet potatoes.

"My! You're so kindhearted!" said a voice coming from behind her. Shizuha turned around to see that it was the goddess of misfortune, Hina Kagiyama.

"It's you," Shizuha said to her. "It was nothing. I simply didn't want them to come all the way here for naught."

"It really shows how kind you are!" Hina said to her. "You may be a pessimistic person, but you're really a nice person who shows concerns to others. You should let people know this side of you if you want to become more well-known and make more friends!"

"Nah, it's all right," Shizuha told her. "I'm all right with the way things are now. I have never been the kind of person who socializes with other people. Minoriko is the one who is good at that."

"You envy her, don't you?" Hina asked her. "If so, then you should take lessons from her. It's not like you will bring misfortune to people by being near them, like me. Admittedly, there are times when I wish I can have the company of other people, but being the goddess of misfortune, being close to them will bring them misfortune, and I do not wish that they meet such unfortunate luck because of me…"

"It can't be helped, considering what you are," Shizuha said to her. "Anyway, like I said earlier, I'm fine with the way I am now. Minoriko's ability is special and loved by many, but what about me? Making leaves fall isn't something that makes people happy."

"Don't you see those children roasting sweet potatoes happily and eating them?" Hina asked her while looking at the children. "If it weren't for your ability to make leaves dry up and fall down from trees during autumn, you wouldn't see sights like that! The sight before you is proof that there are people who appreciate your existence and ability!"

"You may be right, but compared to Minoriko's, it's nothing," Shizuha said.

"You should stop comparing yourself to your younger sister," Hina told her. "Both of you have very different abilities that cannot be compared with each other. She is well liked for a reason different from you, so you do not have to compare yourself to her all the time."

"Maybe that's just the way I am, always comparing myself to someone superior," Shizuha said as she turned to go deeper into the forest. "I appreciate that you're trying to make me open myself more to other people, but I have my way of living, and as long as I'm happy with it, there's nothing wrong with it."

"I can tell that you actually wish for the opposite," Hina said to her. "You actually want to be loved and praised by other people. Trust me; if you show your kindhearted side to people more, you'll surely be loved more!"

"Some other time, I think," Shizuha said without turning her head.

Hina sighed with a smile and then looked at the children. When she noticed one of the children seeing her, she quickly hid behind the tree. "There's someone over there!" that child said.

The others turned to where he was pointing, and one of them said, "There's nobody there. You must be seeing things. There shouldn't be anyone here other than demons."

"But I saw a human just now!" that child claimed. "I couldn't have mistaken a human for a demon! They look very different! Demons are very ugly and evil-looking, unlike humans."

"You must be seeing things," the oldest child said. "Anyway, once we're done, let's go back home. We shouldn't be staying here for too long. If the adults find out, they won't be happy."

However, the child who claimed to have seen Hina was the kind of person who didn't like it when someone didn't believe what he said, so he walked in the direction of the woods. "I'm going to prove to you that I saw someone there just now! Just you wait!"

"Hey! Don't go into the woods! It's dangerous!" one of the children called out to him, but he didn't listen. Seeing that he wasn't listening to them, the rest of the children decided to go after him.

That child went behind the tree to look for Hina, but the goddess was no longer there. The others caught up with him, and the oldest kid said to him, "See? There is nobody here."

"There was somebody here! He just left! I'm going to look for him! He couldn't have gone far!" the child said, and then he went deeper into the woods, closely followed by the others.

"We really shouldn't be coming here…" another one of the child said. "We should be going home now…"

"Right, we're going back whether or not you really did see a person just now!" the oldest kid said as he grabbed the persistent child's arm. "Maybe you saw a demon disguised as a human in order to lure us into the woods to eat us or harm us! Let's get out of here before we fall into his trap!"

Thinking carefully about what the oldest child said, that child said, "I think you're right… Maybe it was a demon disguising himself as a human in order to lure us in here to eat us… We better leave now…"

Just as they were turning to leave, they suddenly heard the sound of crashing coming from not too far away, and it shocked them. "What was that?!" one of them said.

The children looked in the direction the crashing came from and could see trees toppling in the distance, and there was someone making them fall. "What… What is that…?" another one of the children asked.

"I'm scared…" said the little girl as she hid behind the oldest child.

The thing was cutting down trees in mere seconds while moving in the children's direction, and as it came closer and closer, they were able to get a better look at what it was. It was a silver robot with an evil expression, and its left hand was a chainsaw.

The children slowly moved back in fear as the robot approached them. "What… What kind of demon is that…?" one of the children asked.

"I don't know… I've never seen a demon like that before…" the oldest child said.

The robot didn't seem to be paying them any attention, however. It kept on toppling the trees it came across, not caring that there were children nearby and that they could get hurt if a tree fell. It so happened that a rather tall tree it cut fell in their direction, but luckily, they managed to get out of the way in time.

One of the kids was a rather hot-tempered one, so after avoiding the falling tree, he picked up a fallen branch and flung it at the robot. "Get away from us, you evil demon!" he shouted.

The branch struck the side of the robot's head and bounced off it harmlessly, but it was enough to make the robot turn its attention to them. From its point of view, the text '_Objective: Cut down trees_' seen at the bottom left side of its vision changed to '_Eliminate threat_', so it started moving in their direction.

Seeing that the robot was coming after then, the kids waste no time in turning to run for their lives, and the robot gave chase. Unfortunately for them, the robot was a faster runner than them, and it was quickly catching up on them. The kids screamed for help, and suddenly, someone came crashing into the side of the robot and sent it flying into a tree.

CRAAAAAAASH!

The children turned around just in time to see Hina touch the ground and stop spinning. "A woman!" one of the children pointed out.

"I think she was the one I saw while we were roasting potatoes!" the child who came looking for her in the first place said. "Yes! She's definitely the one! Do you believe me now?"

Hina turned to the children and said, "Please leave here at once, children! I fear that misfortune will befall you if you stay here any longer!"

"Big sister! Watch out!" the little girl cried out to her. Hina turned to the robot to see that it had gotten up and lunged itself at her to hit her with its chainsaw arm. The goddess leaped to the side in the nick of time, but the side of her waist got cut a little by it.

She grunted in slight pain as she landed from her jump, and then the robot turned to her to attack with its chainsaw again, but she kept on dodging it by moving side to side. The children quickly ran a bit of a distance away and hid behind a tree to watch from there. "We should be getting out of here, don't you think so…?" one of them asked.

"But I want to see what's going to happen next!" the hot-tempered one said.

Hina continued to dodge the robot's chainsaw, and then she jumped and delivered a roundhouse kick to the robot's head to send the whole thing flying to the side. The robot hit a tree and seemingly fell limp, and the goddess approached it to make sure. "Why is there a robot here?" she wondered.

Suddenly, the robot pointed its other hand at her and released a stream of fire from its wrist gun. The goddess screamed as she used her arms to shield herself from the flames, but it did not save her from catching on fire. Acting on instinct, Hina fell to the ground and rolled backwards as fast as she could until she managed to put out the fire, and then she stopped to stand back up. She barely had time to rest, however, as the robot ran at her right after that.

She jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit by its chainsaw, which cut down a tree behind her. The robot then used its wrist-mounted flamethrower against her, but she quickly moved back while spinning. "It's dangerous if I let it use fire so recklessly," she thought. "I must at least do something about its right hand first!"

The goddess then ran at the robot. When it used its flamethrower against her again, she jumped over the fire and landed on top of its wrist gun. Hina forced the robot onto the ground by doing that and managed to flatten and damage the wrist gun as well. However, the robot was unaware of this, and when the goddess jumped back and it got up to use its flamethrower again, the wrist gun released smoke and then exploded, taking out the robot's hand.

BAAAAAAAAANG!

The robot took several steps back from the blast and then looked at its hand. If it was able to show expressions, it would do so now. "Good! Got rid of the most dangerous part of him!" Hina thought.

Suddenly, the robot's body opened, and four wires shot out. Because this happened very suddenly, Hina had no time to react, so the wires caught her arms and waist. "What the?!"

Two semicircle saw blades came out of the robot's body and connected together back to back to form a buzzsaw, and then the wires started pulling Hina in. The goddess struggled to break free from the wires, but they were too tough to break. They were being pulled back at a force that was too much for her to fight against as well.

The goddess continued to struggle to escape when suddenly leaves flew at the wire and severed them, freeing her. The robot turned to look at the source of the leaves, only to receive a foot to the face by Shizuha. The goddess of red leaves bounced back into the air as the robot went flying back and slid across the leaf-covered ground.

Shizuha turned to Hina and asked her, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine… Thanks for the help!" Hina said to her while trying to remove the wires from herself.

Shizuha turned to the robot to see it getting back up, and when it did, it fired four wires from its body again, but the goddess leaped to the side and then flung a leaf with superb accuracy at the robot's left eye, destroying it. Because of this, the robot moved backwards awkwardly while retracing its wires into its body and closing it. Shizuha ran at the robot and unleashed a series of kicking combos against it nonstop.

KICK SMASH KICK SMASH SMASH!

By the time Shizuha was done kicking the robot, there were dents all over its body, and some of its joints looked like they were going to fall off. Shizuha then grabbed the robot by its head and forcefully lowered it to smash it in the chin with her knee, and such an act caused its jaw to be shattered.

While the robot was trying to recover from receiving a fatal blow, Shizuha took out a leaf, grabbed its head, and plunged it into its other eye to blind it completely. After that, she forcefully twisted the robot's head to the side and snapped it. Finally, she pulled back her leg and turned to the side a little before unleashing a devastating kick that sent the robot shooting backwards at a high speed.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

The robot crash into a tree with such a force that the latter toppled forward, crushing it.

CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

"Whoa…" Hina was in a loss of words when she saw Shizuha defeating the robot.

Shizuha approached the defeated robot to inspect it, but when she a heard a loud beeping sound coming from it, her instinct told her to get away from it. It was the correct decision to get away from the robot, because after the beeping sound was heard several times, the robot exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

"It exploded… Guess it's normal for a machine to explode when it is destroyed…" Shizuha thought.

Hina walked up next to her and said, "Wow… Never thought you were this good! I know you're good at fighting up close, but I didn't expect you to be this good! This is the first time I saw you fighting seriously like this!"

The two goddesses then noticed the children from before looking at them from nearby, and they were unsure if those two were safe to approach. "It's all right now, kids," said Hina, trying to start a conversation with them. "You don't have to be scared. We won't hurt you."

"Tha… Thanks…" the oldest child said. "Thank you for saving us…"

"That was really awesome!" said one of the children, the hot-tempered one. "Yellow-haired sis was really cool! She totally destroyed that demon with an awesome kick!"

"Yeah! That was awesome!" said another one.

The little girl went close to the two goddesses. "Thank you for helping us, big sisters!" she said to them.

"I'm glad that you're safe!" Hina said to her. "Now please go back home to your parents. I'm sure they're worried about you. Also, please do not stay close to me for too long, because I am the goddess of misfortune, and being close to me is not good for you, I fear…"

"Why? What bad things will happen?" the little girls asked. "Big sister is beautiful and strong, so why will bad things happen if I come near you?"

"Because misfortune will befall you and make you run into all sorts of bad luck, such as getting injured or getting attacked by demons," Shizuha said to her in a straightforward manner.

"Shizuha! You're scaring her!" Hina said to her.

"But that's the truth," Shizuha told her. "It's for the safety for this little girl that I said this. Run along now, kids. Go back home. You shouldn't be in this place. It's very dangerous for the likes of you to be here."

The little girl, a bit scared by Shizuha's attitude, returned to join the other kids, but not before thanking her for saving them. The children gave the goddesses one last thanks before Hina told them the direction they should be heading for if they wanted to leave the woods and return to the Human Village.

As they watched the children leave, Hina said to Shizuha, "This is a good opportunity for you to open up to those children, you know? You should be kinder to them and let them know the good side of you. Saving them was a good start!"

"Like I've always said, I lack social skills, so I wouldn't know how to act friendly in front of them, that's why I acted the way I have always been," Shizuha said.

"You're always like that… I do hope that you change someday," Hina told her. "Friends are nice and important to have, so you shouldn't miss the opportunity to make some."

"Let's not talk about that now," Shizuha said, and then she turned to look at the burnt spot, the spot where the robot once was. "Don't you find it strange that there's a robot on the loose here?"

Hina looked at the same spot and nodded. "Indeed… Why would it be cutting trees, too? The only explanation for the robot is that it came from the science lab."

"You're right," Shizuha said with a nod. "In Gensokyo, something as advanced as a robot can only come from the science lab."

"But why would they create something that would attack civilians? That's unlike of anyone in the lab to build something like this…" Hina wondered.

"Or the robot was just acting on self-defense. Anyway, I think we should talk to Nitori or someone from the lab to get to the bottom of this," Shizuha suggested, and Hina nodded in agreement.

* * *

No sooner after agreeing that they should tell Nitori or anyone from the science lab about the robot, several kappas from there, including Nitori herself, were at the site where the battle once took place.

Nitori was crouched down in front of the spot of the explosion, inspecting that place to see if there were any pieces of the robot that could be collected and examined. Hina asked her, "Well? Did you find anything?"

"If you consider a single bolt to be something…" Nitori said as she picked up a charred bolt. "This is really all I can find of the robot you claim to have seen… Whoever built it must've installed a self-destruction mechanism in it so that it cannot be examined when it is destroyed… Pretty smart of him if you ask me…"

"Do you think you can find out anything from that single bolt?" Shizuha asked her.

"I doubt so…" Nitori said. "However, it should be good proof that the robot came from the lab, as I cannot think of anywhere else that have bolts like this. Wait… I think Kourindou may have bolts as well, but I still think it came from the lab… Anyway, at least there's something to take back…" The kappa stood up and looked at her colleagues, who were examining the cut trees and asked them if they found anything, but the answer was negative, other than that the tree was cut down using a chainsaw. "Well, looks like we've hit a dead end in our search…"

"Guess we'll never be able to find the culprit, right?" Shizuha asked.

"You said the robot is humanoid in appearance and is silver all over, right?" Nitori said while examining the bolt she found. "It's face…"

"A pretty generic angry face, that's the best way I can describe it," Shizuha said. "You know… Angry eyes and a frown… Also, the eyes were giving off orange light."

"Doesn't sound like anything we have back there…" Nitori said before putting the bolt into her pocket. "Anyway, we'll look into this, and we'll see into it that something like this doesn't happen again. The last thing we want is to have something coming from us harming the civilians here…"

* * *

Back in the science lab, in the area where machines were being worked on, Nitori presented the bolt to Rika to see if the latter could find out anything. "There's really nothing you can find out just by looking at a simple bolt, you know… And a charred one at that…" Rika said. "The only thing we can determine is that it's been through fire or an explosion…"

"Figures…" said Nitori in disappointment.

"Perhaps the most we can do is to match it with the bolts we have to see if it really did come from here," Rika said. "Other than that, I don't know if we can find out anything more… Your description of the robot sounds unfamiliar to me as well… As far as I remember, we weren't building any robots lately. The only humanoid robot we have currently is Hisou Tensoku, and it hasn't been used since its test run. Plus, the size is off, too…"

"Whatever the case is, we better keep an eye on things to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again," Nitori said to her. "Kanako wouldn't like it if she finds out that a robot was causing trouble on the surface…"

"Right," Rika said with a nod. "We'll definitely look into this to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

Unknown to them, Akemi was peeking at them from behind the door, and she heard everything they said. When she though their conversation came to an end, she left and headed in the direction of her office. "I doubt they're going to find out anything from that bolt," Akemi said in her head. "Even so, I have to make the self-destruct mechanism more perfect in order for there to be no remaining parts when the robots blow up…"

She returned to her office and then sat down on her chair. Looking at her cybernetic arms, Akemi said, "Thanks to these cybernetic arms, I'm able to build robots in a short amount of time! Something like that should take days to complete, but I was able to complete one in less than an hour!"

Then she stood up and headed over to the wall at the back of the office. Moving aside the calendar hanging there, she pushed the part of the wall behind it to reveal a secret passage next to it. She went into the passage and came to a room that had several of the same kind of robots. "Built ten of them in a single night, and without anybody realizing it as well!" Akemi said to herself. "I even managed to build this secret room without anybody realizing it! I bet they have no idea that these arms they gave me are this powerful! Thanks to them, I shall be able to lay waste to this primitive piece of land called Gensokyo and then turn it into a bustling city, or town! Heheheheheheh! Hahahahahahahaha!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

I had fun typing Shizuha's fight, though I'm not sure if some of you will say that I made her way too out of character… Please let me know what you think of my portrayal of her.

Thanks in advance!

God bless you all!


	6. Smell of Crime

One of my cousins gave us her old laptop, and I was able to take it to church retreat to work on this chapter. I could've used the resort's Wi-Fi to upload the chapter, but it's probably due to the laptop being faulty or something that it wasn't able to get connected to the best network that place has to offer. Found out that I was originally using the slowest networks there, but then for some reason, they became faulty, so I wasn't able to go online. Plus, I found out that this chapter still needed changes before I can get it up. I only finished the chapter entirely when I got back home.

Anyway, enjoy!

**Chapter 6  
Smell of Crime**

* * *

On the same day the robot appeared and caused trouble in the woods at the base of Youkai Mountain, Shizuha was back in her home, sitting on a chair and thinking of what happened during the day.

"That robot… I'm wondering… Could it be…?" she said in her head.

* * *

_FLASHBACK_

"Well, I have to agree that life in the outside world is much more comfortable and convenient than here," Yukari said to Shizuha when the latter asked her the question regarding how life was in the outside world. "Actually, the former is subjective… Though if you ask me, I prefer living life like in the outside world, which is why my house in Mayohiga is like an outside world house, what with having electrical appliances and such. There's even internet connection! You pretty much can't go around without an internet in the outside world nowadays."

"I see…" Shizuha said. "I guess that's why outsiders who end up here tend to have a hard time getting adapted to life here."

"It's understandable," Yukari said with a nod. "After all, they've been spoiled by the entertainments and the inventions of the outside world that they cannot live the kind of life found in the ancient days. It wouldn't be a problem for old people, since they likely lived life like this in their younger days, but for the younger generation, life without video games, computers, vehicles, televisions, and mobile phones is torturing. Admittedly, I've gotten myself spoiled a bit by those things, so I sometimes find it hard to go through a day without surfing the internet… Yeah, I'm totally an outside world girl now… Haha…"

* * *

"You can say that she was horrified by the lifestyle here," Keine told to Shizuha when the latter asked her about how things were for Akemi when she first came to Gensokyo. "She couldn't believe that there was a place in Japan that still lives life like in the feudal era. I told her that this place is secluded from the rest of the country, so most of the people here have no knowledge of what's going out there, but she still had a hard time believing it.

"Apparently, she grew up in the big city and was in touch with the technological advances and the entertainments of the outside world, so she wasn't able to get used to this place at all. You can say she was in depression the entire time she was staying in the village… She also avoided going into the woods and even stayed away from tall grass. It's as if she is scared to death of anything related to plants… I've never seen anyone like her before…"

"And when she found out about the kappas' technology, she instantly moved to the lab?" Shizuha asked.

Keine nodded. "Yes, because the kappas have technology that are on par with the outside world, so Akemi was more than thrilled when she learned that she could live life like out there if she moved there. Luckily for her, she had skills that proved useful to the science department, because they don't allow people to live there without a reason."

"I guess she felt like being in heaven after moving there…" Shizuha said. "By the way, did she tell you why she is afraid of… plants?"

Keine shook her head. "She didn't actually tell me why. She only said that she had bad memories with them and that she didn't want to say more on that subject. When she said that, her tone changed. It sort of became… sadder… It's as if it's something she really doesn't want to talk about it or even think about it…"

"Guess she really does have bad memories with plants…" Shizuha said.

_END OF FLASHBACK_

* * *

Shizuha recalled everything Yukari and Keine told her and then thought of what she knew about Akemi.

Disliking primitive lifestyles, fear of plants, wanting to build a movie theater, and trying to burn a flower field…

Thinking of all those, Shizuha couldn't help but think that the robot was actually Akemi's creation and that she was trying to use it to cut down trees. Was she trying to build a movie theater again? Or did she simply hated and feared trees that she was doing this?

But then Shizuha remembered something, and that was Akemi no longer had arms, so it should be impossible for her to build a robot, unless…

"Considering that they have advanced technology, it's no surprise if they manage to, like, give her new arms or provide her with substitutes for them…" Shizuha said to herself. "If that's the case, then it's possible for her to build that robot…"

"What are you doing, sis?" asked a voice, and Shizuha turned to the door to see that it was Minoriko.

"Oh, it's you," Shizuha said.

Minoriko approached her and took a seat on the chair next to her. "What are you doing? Oh, I also heard from Hina about what happened at the woods, about a robot showing up and attacking some children. She also said that you defeated it."

Shizuha nodded. "It's true."

"Are you all right?" Minoriko asked while looking around her older sister's body for injuries.

"I'm all right," Shizuha told her. "I didn't give it the chance to fight back seriously at all. It was an easy job taking care of it."

"That's a relief!" Minoriko said. "I hope something like that doesn't happen again… It's quite scary having an out-of-control robot running around with a chainsaw…"

"The science department is looking into this," Shizuha said. "I'm sure they'll solve the mystery behind this and make sure that something like this doesn't happen again."

"Let's hope so…" Minoriko said. "Oh, and what were you doing?"

"Just thinking about what you asked me just now," Shizuha told her.

"Are you sure? Knowing you, you're probably thinking of more than that," Minoriko said to her while staring at her in a doubtful manner. "You're probably thinking of things like what if this happens again or if there's going to a robot apocalypse. You're a very negative person after all, so it's likely that you're thinking of stuff like those."

"I'm just thinking of what might be the possible reason for there to be a robot out there, okay?" said Shizuha, looking a bit annoyed.

"Knew your thoughts wouldn't be that simple… Anyway, let's hope for the best that the science department will do something about this," Minoriko said as she stood up. "I'm quite tired, so I'm going to take a nap. Helped the farmers a lot with harvesting today… Boy, my energy is all gone…" Then the goddess headed in the direction of the bed room.

Shizuha watched her close the door and then said in her head, "Should I tell the shrine maiden about this? Perhaps I'm worrying too much… Let's just see how things are for now without doing anything…"

* * *

With two bolts, one new and one charred, in her hands, Rika compared them to see if they came from the same place. Nitori, who was standing next to her, asked her, "Are they the same?"

"I think I can conclude that they both are indeed the same," Rika said. "I guess we can also conclude that the robot is made from parts that came from here."

"You really think so? Then who do you think built that robot?" Nitori asked. "Was there a project around these days that involves building robots?"

Rika shook her head. "None of that I know… I'm the head of mechanics around here, so I should either be the one to come up with a project like that or the first one to hear about it."

"Then that's strange… Who would be building a robot without our permission and in secret?" Nitori wondered.

"We'll check and see if there are anymore missing parts from our inventory before confirming if the robot really came from here," Rika said as she put the new bolt into a box of bolts on a table. "Also, I doubt they're going to admit it, but it wouldn't hurt to ask around and see what the others are up to, especially those involved in mechanics."

Nitori nodded. "Okay, I'll go and ask them."

* * *

Akemi let out a yawn while eating snack with her colleagues. "Feeling sleepy?" a fairy asked her.

"Yeah, a little…" Akemi replied. "Was busy with work yesterday night… Slept very late and woke up early…"

"What were you doing?" the fairy asked her.

"Buil… Just patching up some broken stuff, that's all…" the tired girl replied.

"Don't work yourself out," the fairy told her. "Working hard is good, but it's important to get some rest, too."

"Thanks for the suggestion. I'll think I'll go and take a nap after this…" Akemi said as she finished up her sandwich. When she was finally done eating, she stood up, packed her stuff, and left the cafeteria while waving good-bye to her colleagues.

She walked through the lab, making her way back to her living quarters. "Gotta move those twenty robots to the surface if I want to make more," she said in her head. "It'll take five days if I want to have an army of one-hundred robots, and then a big one… Not sure how long it's going to take to build a big one with my arms… There's also those things… Looks like it's going to take some time before I can execute my plan, but good things come to those who wait, right? Maybe I'll push myself to work faster if I want to get it done."

She came around a corner and saw Rika talking to a kappa with short black hair. "I've checked the inventory and can confirm that this amount of metal is missing," the kappa said to Rika. "Also, several nuts, bolts, gears, screws, and… Basically, they are all components for building machines, and judging by the amount of them missing, I'd say whoever took them built either something large and complicated or several of them."

"I see… I wonder who took them and built what?" Rika said with her hand underneath her chin. "Can it really be that the robot was built using those components? However, judging from what I heard, the robot shouldn't be a big one… Perhaps a large amount of them was built?"

Hearing this, Akemi became worried. "Uh oh… They're looking into this… I took all those stuff to build those robots… Looks like I'll have to work faster or decrease the number of robots I plan to build! There doesn't need to be one-hundred of them, I think… Maybe sixty or eighty is enough, as long as they're very strong…"

* * *

A cold breeze sent chills down Reimu's spine. The shrine maiden shivered while seated on the veranda of her shrine and then said, "Boy... The weather's getting colder by the moment... Winter is coming soon..." She looked at Ruukoto, who was happily sweeping leaves in the yard. "Must be good to be a robot, not being able to feel hot or cold... Or maybe it's not exactly a good thing..."

Wondering how Ruukoto was feeling currently, Reimu called out to her and asked her the question. "My internal nuclear reactor keeps me warm," the robot replied with her never-disappearing smile on her face. "However, there's also a cooling system inside me that will activate if my body temperature goes too high. Therefore, I feel warm in cold weathers and cool in hot weathers!"

"Wow... I don't think I ever asked you this question before, so this is the first time I learned about this..." Reimu said. "Must be really awesome to always have the desirable body temperature, no matter what the temperature around you is... Genji must really wish to have something like that, being a cold-blooded animal and all..."

Suddenly, someone descended diagonally from the sky and came to a skidding stop. Aya turned around to face Reimu while adjusting her hat. "Hey there, Reimu! What's up?"

"I should be the one asking you, considering that you came here yourself..." Reimu said to her.

"Wouldn't hurt to find out what the person I'm visiting is doing, would it?" Aya said. "Anyway, I heard something pretty interesting while flying around the sky near Youkai Mountain, and I thought you might be interested, since it seems to be the start of another incident."

Reimu twitched her eyebrow and said, "An incident again?"

"Yep!" Aya said with a nod. "I didn't see what happened myself, but I overheard the kappas talking about the appearance of a robot that was causing trouble in the woods near that mountain today."

"A robot?" Reimu curiously said.

"That's what they said," Aya said. "However, Shizuha took care of it and rescued some children who were being attacked by it. The science department is looking into finding out where it came from. I figured that I should tell you about this."

"If the science department is looking into this, then let them deal with it," Reimu said. "If it's their fault that the robot showed up in the first place, then they should be responsible for it. I'll look into it if it becomes a major issue."

"Somehow, I knew that would be your reply..." Aya said. "Well, at least you know that something may happen and that you may consider doing something."

"For the sake of everyone, nothing better happen," Reimu said before drinking tea.

"More like for the sake of wanting to be lazy and not having to go out there to solve an incident..." Aya said.

"Go away..." Reimu said to her in a frustrated tone.

* * *

That night, Akemi quietly led her army of twenty robots to an elevator that would take them to the surface, near the base of Youkai Mountain. They were close to the elevator when they saw a white wolf tengu armed with a sword and shield standing in front of it, keeping watch.

"Even if I were to distract her and get her to leave that place, I wouldn't be able to get all of them to the elevator in time before she returns..." Akemi thought. "Looks like rendering her unconscious is the only option, but how do I do it? But what if she makes report of someone knocking her out, and as a result, the others look into this and thus find out that it's me? I still need a bit more time before I can fully execute my plan..." Then a malicious look appeared on her face. "Looks like I'll have to do it the hard way..."

The white wolf tengu paced left and right in front of the elevator and stopped once to stretch and yawn. Suddenly, she heard the sound of something hitting the floor coming from her right, so she looked in that direction. While her attention was over there, a robot slowly approached her from behind with its chainsaw arm deactivated but ready to strike.

However, she sensed the incoming danger, so she spun around to block the chainsaw strike with her shield, and the former activated the moment it was swung. The tengu pushed back the robot with her shield and then proceeded to clash blades with it. While the two were trading blows, two robots ran at her from behind with their chainsaws activated, but she performed a back flip and jumped over those two when they got near to attack her. The tengu landed and then swung her sword at the two robots from the side, but it only knocked them away and was not sharp enough to cut through them.

Four robots came running at her from the front. Along with the one that first tried to attack her, they swung down their chainsaws at her, but she managed to block them all with her sword and shield.

Suddenly, a mechanical arm shot in between the robots and caught the tengu by the neck. With a very fast speed, the tengu was pulled in the direction of Akemi, who had her other hand in the form of a blade and pulled back. The tengu was unable to react in time, and when Akemi pulled her up close, she thrust her blade hand forward and impaled the former through the abdomen. Akemi twisted and turned the blade around inside the tengu's body and made her scream in pain, and then she removed the blade through the side, creating a large gash on the latter's body.

Dropping her sword and shield, the white wolf tengu placed her hands on the gash while crying in pain. When she looked at Akemi, the latter swung her blade arm straight down, hitting her right on top of the head.

* * *

The next morning, various fairy janitors were up and cleaning the lab. One of them spotted a dried up blood drop on the floor. This particular fairy was one who would always get to the bottom of things if she came across something peculiar, and the red spot on the floor was enough to make her bend close to it to inspect it. She was able to deduce that it was a blood drop, and because of her personality, she thought it was best to tell other people about it.

She told her fellow janitors to look at it, but they didn't care much about it, thinking that it probably came from a minor injury, such as a small cut. While they were talking about this, a white wolf tengu came over and asked them, "Excuse me, but have you seen Mia? She's the guard in charge of keeping watch here, and she should be reporting back to the base about an hour ago."

One of the fairies looked at her and replied, "Nope. There was nobody here when we came."

"Strange… Where did she go?" the tengu wondered. "She should be done keeping watch an hour ago… She isn't answering her walkie-talkie either…"

The fairy who spotted the dried up blood drop looked at the latter and then said, "Do you think… this blood drop… actually belongs to her… and that something must have happened to her…?"

"I think you read too much mystery and murder stories…" one of the fairies said to her. "A tiny blood drop isn't a big deal! Someone probably just cut his finger or suffered from a case of nosebleed! You're making a big deal out of this!"

"What blood drop?" the white wolf tengu asked as she went over to them. When they pointed to that blood drop, the white wolf tengu sniffed the air around it and realized something. "This scent… It's Mia's scent!"

* * *

Looking at the blood drop and sniffing the air around it, the long and wavy-haired leader of the white wolf tengu squad sent to investigate this matter said, "A large amount of blood used to be here, but the culprit cleaned it up to hide the evidence. Luckily, white wolf tengus have a very good sense of smell."

"I checked the security cameras, but apparently, the one here lost its connection," Nitori said to the tengu. "It seems obvious that someone did it to hide his crime, assuming that he really did kill that guard…"

"Assuming that the guard keeping watch here really is the one who got killed, do you think you can track down her body easily?" Rikako asked the tengu.

"Her scent went in the direction of the elevator," the tengu replied. "All we have to do is to follow the scent, and we will eventually find her."

"That's good to know!" Nitori said.

"Leave this case to us," the tengu told her. "We'll definitely get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, some of us will also check this place to see if anything happened. Discoveries here may lead us to the culprit."

"We're willing to cooperate with you in this matter!" Rika said to her.

Soon after that, a group of white wolf tengus went into the elevator and took it to the surface to look for the dead tengu, while some went around the lab to see if they could find anything that would lead them to the culprit.

As Nitori, Rikako, and Rika walked off together, the former said, "I can't believe that a case of murder happened here, if it really is one..."

"I'm just as surprised as well," Rikako said while adjusting her glasses.

"You know, I can't help but think that the missing components are related to this..." Rika said.

"Tell me about it," Rikako said to her.

"The robot that showed up in the woods near here had one of its bolts taken from here, and when I sent someone to check the inventory, she found out that several components for building something like a robot missing," Rika explained. "Nitori also asked some people here if they were up to anything, but she didn't learn anything."

"I think some of them are lying, though," Nitori said. "Obviously, this is something that nobody would reveal the truth about."

"Yeah, I figured as much..." Rika said. "So anyway, I'm thinking that if the person secretly using those components to build robots killed that guard in order to cover up his actions, because he was caught in the act and wanted there to be no witnesses..."

Rikako placed her hand underneath her chin and said, "You may be onto something there... Let's hope the white wolf tengus find out something soon..."

* * *

The leader of the white wolf tengu squad was watching her colleagues as they did autopsy on a body they dug out from the woods. "Innards cut and shredded by a blade, which then cut its way out from the left side of her waist," one of the tengus doing the autopsy said. "The death blow appears to be from the one on the head, a vertical split down to the collar. Seeing how it's a clean cut, it is done by a sharp blade. Time of death is around 1 A.M."

"Unfortunate news... Pack up the body and then report to her family members at once,"the squad leader said.

"There are the scents of metal all around her," the other tengu performing the autopsy told the leader. "The scents apparently went deeper into the woods. Also among these scents is the scent of a human, but it did not go in the same direction as the other scents."

"Right, I can smell that," the leader said. "That human scent was in the elevator as well, and it went back there. This can only mean one thing..." The leader turned to the direction of the elevator. "The culprit might be in the lab this very moment!"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Lots of white wolf tengus and no Momiji? Actually, she's there helping with the investigation in the woods. I originally wanted her to be in the squad leader's place (but not necessarily as the squad leader), but then I thought that since we never saw her speaking firsthand in official materials and doesn't even have an official artwork from ZUN, I decided to reduce her role to that of cameo appearances, just like her appearances in Wild and Horned Hermit and Oriental Sacred Place.

That doesn't mean I'll never give Momiji a moment to shine, though. It's just that when compared to characters that have dialogues, official artworks, and more notable backgrounds, I won't be giving her as much screentime. Yes, I'm aware that Shizuha also has no dialogues in official materials, but the fact that she has an official ZUN artwork, her own profile in Symposion of Post-mysticsm, and appeared in more than one panel in Forbidden Scrollery likely means that ZUN sees her as a more major character than Momiji, so I am treating the former as such. Plus, Shizuha is one of my favorite characters in the series. Yeah, favoritism...

Also, my portrayal of Momiji does not have wolf ears, because she doesn't have them in canon. I know she is shown with wolf ears and a tail in Oriental Sacred Place, but the artist probably followed the fandom and drew her like that, even though ZUN didn't intend for her to have them. I haven't decided on whether or not she has a tail, though, so feel free to imagine her with one if you want to… Same case goes for Kyouko…


	7. The End Surfaces

Hope people still remember my design for Nitori, as mentioned in Evil By Nature… Just saying…

**Chapter 7  
The End Surfaces**

* * *

"What?! The culprit is likely someone from here?!" Nitori said in shock when the leader of the white wolf tengu squad came back to the lab and reported what they found.

The squad leader nodded and said, "Yes, but that doesn't necessary mean the person is someone from here, though the chances of yes is quite high. Otherwise, why would that person run back here after burying the dead body?"

Rikako placed her hand underneath her chin and said, "You said the culprit has the scent of a human, right? As far as I remember, the only humans here are Rika, Akemi, and me… There may be some human workers here, but I wouldn't know, since I didn't take my time to find out who all the workers here are…"

Everyone looked at Rikako and Rika as if they were the culprits, and Rika said, "No way am I the one who did this! I don't have the guts to kill anyone! I'm innocent!"

"Calm down," the squad leader said to her. "The scent does not match either of you. In fact, the person with that scent isn't here."

Rikako and Rika looked at each other when they realized something. "Do you think… it's Akemi that she's talking about…?" the latter asked.

"Well, she said the scent belongs to a human, and none of us match that scent, so the only likely person left is her…" Rikako said. "And speaking of which, I haven't seen her all day today yet."

"Akemi is the killer…?" said Nitori, not believing what she heard.

"We'll be the judge to that," the squad leader said. "Please take us to this Akemi person, and we will interrogate her to see if she knows anything."

"She's either in her office or her living quarters," Rikako said, and then she led the way. "We'll check the former first."

The scientist led the white wolf tengus to Akemi's office. When there, Rikako knocked the door and called out Akemi's name, but there was no response. She knocked and called out to her again, but once again, there was no reply. "Looks like she's not in there…" Then she tried opening the door. "It's locked…"

"I can tell that the scent went in there," the squad leader said.

"You can't be serious… Is Akemi really the one who killed that guard…?" said Rikako, who had a hard time trying to believe the truth. The scientist pounded the door harder and harder while shouting louder and louder for Akemi to open it. "Akemi! Open the door at once! Do you hear me?! You won't get away with this if you've committed a crime and disgraced us science department! Do you hear me?! OPEN THE DOOR AT ONCE!"

When she shouted, the tengus suddenly felt as if a large amount of magical energy was coming out of Rikako, and it made them jump back. They saw a pink aura covering Rikako's body and her hair slowly floating up, too.

However, the pink aura quickly disappeared, and then Rikako took a deep breath. "Phew… Got a bit too agitated there… Keep calm… Keep calm…" she told herself, and then she turned to look at the squad leader. "Would you please break down this door? I won't mind."

"Um… If you say so…" the squad leader said, and then Rikako moved away from the door for her to approach it. The tengu gave the door a powerful kick that instantly caused it to fall over. After that, everyone went inside, but they didn't see anyone.

"Strange… She's not in here?" Rikako said.

"Her scent is here, however," the squad leader said while looking around. "She must be hiding here somewhere."

"But other than underneath the desk, there is nowhere else for her to hide," Rikako told her.

"You'll never know if she's got a secret room here," the leader said, and then she commanded her subordinates to search the room for secrets.

The tengus searched all over the place for anything suspicious. They looked underneath the desk and even moved the various pieces of furniture away from their spots to see if there were secret passages underneath them. They also pressed all over the walls to find secret entrances, and one of them even opened up the ceiling to search up there. Because the ceiling consisted of removable panels, it was a task that was easily done.

After minutes of searching, the tengus still could not find anything and were about to give up. However, one of them, while pressing her hands against the wall at the back end of the room, thought she heard a sound coming from behind it. She placed her ear against the wall and listened carefully. "There's something behind this wall!" she told the others.

"Really?" the squad leader said as she walked up to where she was and pressed her ear against the wall. "You're right! I think I hear something coming from behind this part of the wall, too! Good work, Momiji!"

"There's sound coming from behind that wall?" Rikako asked. "But there shouldn't be any room behind that wall!"

"Whatever the case is, there's got to be something behind this wall," the leader said. "Now how do we get behind it?"

* * *

Behind the wall, Akemi could clearly hear everything they were saying. "Looks like I'm busted…" she said to herself as she looked up from working on something. "Good thing those three are ready, and these are near completion as well. I'll let them distract them, while I continue working on these. Just a little bit more and then I can carry out my plan! Plus, it's not like they can come in here anyway, since I locked the entrance from the inside."

* * *

"Looks like we'll have to use explosives to break down this wall," the squad leader said while looking at where the secret door was.

"Geez… I didn't expect this search to end up causing destruction…" Rikako grumbled. "Akemi… You better have a good explanation for all this! Anyway, I'll get the workers to bring in an explosive that is strong enough to break down this wall, but not the whole room."

"That's good," the squad leader said. "Please do as you said."

Rikako nodded, and then she turned to the exit and saw some kappas standing there, so she told them to bring an explosive. They nodded and then ran off to get it. While waiting for them to return, the squad leader approached Rikako and quietly said to her, "If you don't mind telling me this… I sensed a large amount of magic coming from you when you were shouting for Akemi to open the door…"

"I don't wish to talk about it," Rikako replied in an unwilling tone. "Yes, I know magic, but dislike using it. Science will always be my interest, not magic."

"Okay…" the leader said.

About a minute later, the kappas returned with a plastic explosive. Under Rikako's command, one of them took it to that part of the wall and stuck it there. Once things were ready, the kappa told everyone to get out of the room. When everyone was out the room, including the kappa herself, she pressed a single button on a remote control to detonate the plastic explosive.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Pieces of the wall flew all over the place as smoke instantly filled up the room, but because everyone was outside the room and thus out of the blast radius, nobody was hurt. Everyone waited outside for the smoke to dissipate before going in, but then they saw a pair of glowing red eyes from within it. "What…? What is that?" the kappa who detonated the plastic explosive asked.

Suddenly, a stream of fire shot out from the smoke and burned the kappa, as well as some white wolf tengus who happened to be in the way. They screamed as they ran around with their body on fire, and some fell to the floor and rolled around to put out the fire. Some kappas quickly ran to get fire extinguishers to help put out the fire on them.

"What was that?!" Rikako said in shock as she turned back to the smoke. Suddenly, a robot similar in design to the previous ones, but with a height that was close to four meters and a bulkier body build, came out of the smoke, much to the horror of everyone.

"What… What is that robot?!" Nitori said.

Both the robot's arms were arm cannons, and it pointed one of them at the group before it and then released a stream of fire, but they quickly ran out of the way. The squad leader shouted for her subordinates to attack, so they jumped at the robot and swung their swords at it, but they were unable to cut through its exterior.

The robot swung its arms and stomped around to get the tengus around it out of the way, and then it shot streams of fire over the place. Some got burned, but some managed to get out of the way. Rikako quickly ran to a safer distance and then said, "That thing's going to burn down this whole place at this rate!" Suddenly, the sprinklers on the ceiling activated, and the drops of water that rained down all over the place helped minimized fire. "Oh right… The smoke alarm… Forgot about that…"

"There's another one!" another kappa shouted while pointing at Akemi's room. Everyone turned to the room and saw another robot of the same kind coming out, but instead of arm cannons for hands, it had axes instead. The robot started stomping around the place while swinging around its axe hands. The white wolf tengus standing in its way quickly held up their shields for protection, but the axe sliced their shields in a single swing, so they ended up getting hit by the axe.

Seeing that her subordinates weren't able to do anything to the robots, the squad leader decided that she should step out to help them. Unsheathing her sword, the white wolf tengu charged at the axe-handed robot and swung her weapon at it, and the robot did the same thing with one of its axes. The squad leader and the robot swung their blades against each other constantly, and both sides weren't showing signs of letting each other have the upper hand.

When the robot swung its axes at her from both sides, she jumped into the air and raised her sword over her head to bring it down onto its head. Suddenly, the back of the robot opened, and a large two-sided axe came out and swung at her. The squad leader, acting quickly, brought her sword in front of herself in a horizontal position, and when the axe hit it, she was knocked back through the air and hit the floor. "Phew… That was close…" she said.

* * *

With her hands raised into the air, Nitori gathered together the drops of water that was sprayed everywhere by the sprinklers. Once she created a glob of water that was slightly larger than a beach ball, she ran in the direction of the fire-using robot that was still shooting fire all over the place, as its fire was too strong for the sprinkler to put out. "Try this one for a size, tin can!" Nitori shouted at it.

The robot turned to her and shot a stream of fire, and she countered it by hurling the glob of water forward. "Hydro Meteor!" The glob of water doused the fire on contact, plowing through it and striking the arm cannon with such a force that the robot itself fell back.

Nitori jumped towards the robot with her arms raised into the air to gather water again. This time, she formed the water into a sword and fell towards the robot to plunge it into its chest. However, the sword made of water wasn't able to pierce through the robot's exterior, even though she was capable of solidifying water. The sword broke down into drops of water when it hit the robot's body.

The robot turned to the side to make Nitori jump off, and then it pointed its arm cannon at her to burn her, but she quickly jumped out of the way. It was suddenly struck by rockets in the side, so it turned to the source to see three kappas pointing rocket launchers at it. Missile launchers appeared from the shoulders of the robot and fired missiles at them, so they quickly jumped out of the way.

Rikako was hiding behind a machine. She searched around her coat for anything she could use to defend herself, but all she found was a taser that wouldn't be of help in this situation. Suddenly, the missiles fired by the robot struck the machine Rikako was hiding behind from the front and destroyed it, blasting her forward.

The explosion made Rikako's lab coat catch on fire, so she quickly took it off, revealing a white shirt and a black skirt underneath. "That does it! You're making me do this!" Rikako angrily said as she turned to the robot. Her irises gave off pink light as a bright pink aura appeared around her, and then she stretched her arms to the sides to form what appeared to be miniature suns. She pointed her arms at the robot, and the miniature suns flew at it and struck it in the chest rapidly, pushing it back with each step.

The robot managed to retain its footing, and then it fired missiles at Rikako. The scientist created more sun-like projectiles to counter the missiles by blowing them up in midair. The robot got ready to fire another set of missiles, but suddenly, another robot shoulder bashed it in the side to send it tumbling across the floor. Rikako looked at the newcomer and saw that it was a black robot with purple limbs. It didn't have a head; instead, it had a one large eye with a red iris and black pupil in front of its chest. It was about three meters tall, a few heads shorter than the other two robots.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Rika's voice spoke out from inside the new robot. "It's been a while since I used the Evil Eye Omega, so it took a while to get its engine heated up and running."

The fire-using robot got back up and turned to look at the new robot for a few seconds before firing missiles at it, and the latter fought back using missiles fired from the same locations. Most of the missiles collided with each other in midair and destroyed each other, but some went past each other and headed for their targets. Both the robots stepped aside to avoid the missiles, and then Evil Eye Omega changed its right hand into arm cannon before firing a rapid burst of energy bullets at the robot's chest.

While Rika was attacking that robot, the axe-handed robot approached her from behind to attack with one of its axes. However, thanks to its radar that allows it to detect threats from all directions, Evil Eye Omega quickly turned around and pushed away the axe that was going to hit it. The former changed its other hand into an arm cannon as well and then blasted that robot in the chest at point blank to push it back a some steps.

The fire-using robot attacked from behind with its flamethrower, but Evil Eye Omega moved to the side in time to avoid it, so the fire ended up hitting its own comrade. Evil Eye Omega pointed both its arm cannons at the robots and took a few seconds to charge up before firing a pair of powerful energy blasts that sent both robots shooting back through the place.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Both robots were seemingly out of commission after coming to a stop. Nitori walked up to Evil Eye Omega and commented, "That was awesome! I never saw you use this in a real fight before, and you've managed to put up a spectacular show with it!"

"I never actually I thought I would be able to use it in a real fight, too," Rika said. "Glad that I finally put it to good use! It's very effective, too!"

The two robots started to get back up again, so Nitori and Rika both got ready for another round. "Looks like they still need to be thrashed around more," Rika said. "Let's give it to them, then!"

"You bet I will!" Nitori said.

"There's another one!" shouted someone. Rika and Nitori turned around to see some kappas and white wolf tengus running from another robot of the same kind, but it had chainsaws for hands instead.

"What?! Just how many are there?!" Nitori said in shock.

The robot activated its chainsaws and then rushed forward while swinging them around to try to hit people with them, but everyone managed to get out of the way in time. The robot headed in Evil Eye Omega's direction and rammed into it, pushing it across the place. "Rika!" Nitori said in shock upon seeing this. Suddenly, she noticed missiles flying at her from the side, so she quickly jumped out of the way and turned to see that they were fired by the fire-using robot.

The axe-handed robot ran towards Nitori with its right axe pulled back to take a swing at her. However, a large ball of energy was fired at it and sent it flying back. Nitori turned around to see Rikako holding a large bazooka-like weapon on her shoulder. "Whoa… You took out that energy bazooka!" the kappa commented.

The fire-using robot got ready to fire more missiles, but suddenly, it retracted its launchers back into its shoulders, a move that made Nitori and Rikako curious. Openings appeared on various parts of the robot's body, and then canisters came out from them. Large amounts of smoke suddenly came out from the canisters and quickly filled up the place.

"What the?! Smokescreen?!" Nitori said in shock.

Everyone breathed in the smoke and started to cough uncontrollably. While they were all unable to see because of the smoke, Akemi, wearing a gas mask, came out of her room, pushing a trolley that was carrying three black triangles the size of fire extinguishers. She took advantage of the smoke to make her through the place without being seen, and she also took out a remote control and pressed a button on it.

Because she was inside Evil Eye Omega, Rika wasn't bothered by the smoke, but she couldn't see anything but the smoke itself. "The vent for sucking the smoke away… Gotta activate it!" she said to herself. She moved her robot in the direction of the switch, and eventually, she came to a blue button on the wall and pressed it. Once it was pressed, the air vents starting sucking up the smoke.

When the smoke was finally gone, Rika could see the others recovering from their coughing. However, she didn't see those three robots. "Hey, where'd they go?" she wondered.

Nitori finally stopped coughing and then turned to look at Evil Eye Omega and waved at it. "Thanks for clearing the smoke, Rika!"

The robot approached Nitori, and then its back opened like a door. Rika was carried out of its body by a harness that kept her in place inside, and then the harness automatically let go of her when her feet touched the floor. "Are you all right?" Rika asked the kappa as the former walked up to her.

"I'm all right," Nitori replied.

Rikako approached the two and adjusted her glasses while saying, "Those robots are gone… I think they must've run away while the place was filled with smoke."

"But where did they go to?" Nitori asked. After asking that question, her cell phone rang, so she answered it. "Hello?"

"Nitori! There are three large robots here!" said the feminine voice on the other side of the phone. "They're heading in the direction of the elevator that leads to the forest clearing at the western part of the mountain!"

"What?!" Nitori said in shock. "Okay! I got it! We're on our way there!" Then she ended the call and told the other two what happened.

"So they're heading for the surface?" Rikako asked. "But what for?"

"Whatever the case is, let's head over to where they went now before things turn for the worse!" Nitori suggested.

* * *

Akemi came to a hangar sort of place that had several machines designed for transportation that ranged from aircrafts to vehicles. She looked around until she found the aircraft she wanted, one that resembled a starship found in science fiction medias.

She went in the direction of that aircraft, but then a ponytailed kappa called out to her from behind. "Akemi! Several people are looking for you! Where have you been?"

Without saying anything, Akemi turned around and pointed her hand at the kappa, and then a burst of energy shot out from her palm and blasted her, zapping her badly. After that kappa was out cold, Akemi said to her, even though the latter wasn't able to listen anymore, "Took me less than thirty minutes to install this energy blaster into my hands. It's actually strong enough to kill a human, but for non-humans that have more durable bodies, they'll likely survive getting hit once. I can't say the same if it's fired from point blank, however. Now if you'll excuse me… I've got a place to destroy."

* * *

Shizuha and Minoriko were walking together through the woods near the base of Youkai Mountain, looking at the trees, most of which were bare. Even if they had leaves, there were only two or three of them, and they looked as if they were going to fall off any second.

"Winter is coming," Shizuha said while looking at the trees. "The end is near… Our end…"

"That's life for us," Minoriko said. "We are at our weakest during winter, but when spring comes, we will feel energized again, even if it's not as much as when in autumn. The beautiful sight of spring is still something to behold, however, so I look forward to it! It's been a great autumn this year. The farmers enjoyed harvesting their crops. They'll surely have a great winter this year!"

"Winter is a harsh season, the harshest of all the seasons in existence," Shizuha said. "It can bring joy to some, but hardship to some. Those prepared to live through it will enjoy it, but those who didn't will suffer from it."

"You're talking about the story of the ant and the grasshopper, right?" Minoriko asked her. "Don't worry; I'm sure everyone is prepared to go through winter this year. Plus, the citizens of the Human Village are friendly towards each other, so I'm sure they'll help each other go through winter happily! Christmas is coming up, and it's one season where everyone is happy!"

"Except those who do not have anyone to celebrate Christmas with," Shizuha said.

"Oh, sis… You're always talking about negative things, but what else can I expect from you?" Minoriko commented with an expression that was a combination of a smile and a "not again" kind of look.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of crashing coming from the front, which shocked them. "What was that?!" Minoriko asked.

"Look!" said Shizuha, pointing at a large mass approaching from the front that was cutting down trees as they moved.

It was the army of twenty robots built by Akemi…

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

For a story that stars Shizuha, the goddess of red leaves doesn't seem to be getting that much focus. Rather, the story seems to be more focused on Akemi and the science department. Rest assure, however, that Shizuha is still the main character of the story, so you will still be seeing more of her.

Evil Eye Omega is my original creation based off Evil Eye Sigma. I find it awkward for Rika to use Evil Eye Sigma in that situation, so I came up with a new ride for her. What do you think of it?


	8. Great Robot Wars

**Random Pointless Rambling: **The person who leaked the fifth generation Pokemon's Pokedex said that there will be a brand new Fairy-type in the sixth generation. Sylveon and Xerneas are both Fairy-type, while Yveltal is Dark/Flying-type. Clefairy and Togetic will become Fairy-types as well.

**Chapter 8  
Great Robot Wars**

* * *

Shizuha and Minoriko could not believe the sight they were looking at, an army of robots that was cutting down trees as they moved forward. "Those robots… Their design is exactly the same as the one I fought yesterday!" Shizuha pointed out.

"There are more of them?!" Minoriko said.

When the robots noticed the two sisters, they put their focus on Shizuha, and then the "_Cut down trees_" text seen in the lower-left corner of their visions changed to "_Engage major enemy_". Raising their chainsaws into the air, the robots ran in their direction, not caring about the trees and only cutting them if they were in the way.

"Are they coming for us?!" Minoriko asked.

Shizuha looked around to see if there was anything the robots were going after. "I don't know, but I do have the feeling that they are indeed coming for us…"

When the robot got closer to them, the two goddesses quickly turned to run. Being the faster runner, Shizuha took the lead while holding Minoriko's hand so that the latter wouldn't get left behind. They both ran as fast they could and turned back to look a couple of times to see if the robots were catching up. Eventually, they ran out of the woods and headed for the river up ahead.

The goddesses flew across to the other side of the river, and then they landed and turned around to see the robots stopping at the bank. "Guess they can't cross over to this side," Shizuha said.

"Makes sense, considering that most machines don't mix well with water," Minoriko said.

To their surprise, however, wings powered by flames came out from the robots' backs, and they used it to cross the river. "WHAT?!" the sisters gasped.

The robots landed all around the sisters and surrounded them, and Minoriko held her hands around Shizuha's arm in fear. "Why… Why are they after us…?" the younger sister asked. "We only just met them, but they look like they want us dead!"

"Seeing how they look just like the one I destroyed, I wouldn't be surprised if they're after me to avenge it," Shizuha said. "Looks like I got on the bad side of whoever is behind this… Minoriko, you get out of here. I'm responsible for letting this happen, so I'll deal with this myself!"

"Don't push yourself, sis!" Minoriko told her. "I won't leave you behind! Because they're after you, I have even more reason to stay behind and help you! I'm better in danmaku than you are, so I'll definitely be of help here! Combined with your close quarter combat skills, we can surely take down all of them!"

One of the robots ran forward and thrust its chainsaw at Shizuha. The goddess quickly shoved her younger sister away for the sake of her safety and then moved her body to the side in the nick of time to avoid getting hit by the chainsaw. She quickly caught by the robot by its arm and then slammed its elbow from above hard using her own to bend it in a way it shouldn't be bending before flinging it away by the arm.

Minoriko turned to the robots at the front and magically produced a pair of sweet potatoes in her hand. "Sweet Potato Bombs!" She flung it at two of the robots, but they sliced it in half with their chainsaws. However, the sliced halves flew sideways and exploded when they hit the ground and other robots, blasting away the latter.

Seeing that Minoriko attacked them, the robots saw her as a threat and so headed in her direction to engage her. The goddess of harvest wasn't afraid of them, however. She raised her hands into the air and shouted, "Wrath of the Wheats!" Then she slammed them onto the ground to make wheats grow out from underneath the robots in front of her. The wheats wrapped themselves around the robot so tightly that they were unable to move.

While the robots were bounded in place, Minoriko pointed her arms at them and fired multiple yellow beams out of her palms. "Plenty Sign: Owotoshi Harvester!" When the beams struck the robots, the wheats binding them were broken into pieces, and the robots themselves fell back onto the ground.

After dodging a chainsaw from a robot, Shizuha struck the latter across the face several times with the sides of her hands. She then kicked it away in the abdomen. Another robot tried to hit from the side, but she quickly bent back her body to avoid getting hit by its chainsaw. Quickly grabbing its arm, she flung the robot at some other robots, but then the ones that avoided getting hit by it charged at her after that.

Shizuha performed a spinning jump over them when they got close and then threw several leaves at their back while still in the air, embedding them into their backs, but it wasn't enough to make them malfunction. When she landed, two robots standing on both sides of her attacked with their flamethrowers. The goddess quickly ducked and then approached the one on her right at a fast speed to hit its feet with a leg sweep to knock it to the ground. After that, she rolled out from underneath the flamethrower of the other robot and charged at it before it could turn to her and sent it flying with a roundhouse kick.

That robot got sent flying into shallow water, and the goddess expected it to short-circuit. However, the robot stood back up as if it was unaffected by the water. Shizuha looked around to see that most of the robots she thought she and her sister destroyed were still getting back up. "Are they more durable than the one I encountered or what?" she wondered.

Minoriko stood back to back against her and said, "I may not have seen you fight that one, but I do agree that these things are pretty tough to take down…"

Shizuha looked around and analyzed the situation they were in before saying, "We should retreat for now. We're clearly outmatched here." With that, she swung her hands to the sides very fast to whip up strong wind and a large amount of leaves that quickly filled the air and blocked the robots' view of them. When the wind died down and the leaves settled onto the ground, the sisters were gone, so the robots looked around to find them.

The goddesses didn't run far, however, but the robots didn't look hard enough to find them. They were up in the air, flying back in the direction they ran from. "We should go and tell the science department about this, though I think they should know about this by now," Shizuha suggested.

"Sis! There's something up front!" Minoriko said all of a sudden. Shizuha looked at the front and saw the three larger robots flying in their direction. Because the three were flying in their direction, the two goddesses quickly dropped altitude so that those three flew over them.

The three robots flew across the river and landed among the group of twenty robots there, and then together with them, they headed for the trees at the front to start cutting them. "Why are those robots cutting down the trees?!" Minoriko asked. "What do they have against them?! It's as if they really hate trees!"

After hearing the last part of what Minoriko said, Shizuha suddenly realized something. "Hate trees! Can it really be Akemi…? Is she really the one behind those robots?"

"What do we do, sis?" Minoriko desperately asked her older sister. "We can't let them go and cut down all the trees! Trees benefit people in various ways and make the world look more beautiful!"

"We can't stop them by ourselves either, so the only thing we can do now is tell the science department about this," Shizuha replied.

"But do you know where to find the lab?" Minoriko said. "I heard that there are multiple entrances hidden all around Youkai Mountain and on it, but I never found any of them…"

"I never found any of them myself either…" Shizuha said. "I seriously have no idea… I think the best we can do now is to look for Nitori. Looking for her shouldn't be hard, assuming that she's not in the lab currently…"

"Shizuha! Minoriko!" shouted a familiar-sounding voice. The goddesses turned and saw Nitori, Evil Eye Omega, and several white wolf tengus flying in their direction, and the former was using a jet pack to fly.

The group stopped in front of the sisters, and Minoriko said to Nitori, the person who called out to them, "Nitori! We were just thinking of looking for you! Good thing you came here yourself!"

"Did you see three large robots flying past here?" Nitori asked.

"I can see them over there!" the squad leader of the white wolf tengus said while pointing at the robots in the distance.

"Good! They haven't gone far!" Rika said from inside Evil Eye Omega. "We have to stop them before they cut down way too many trees!"

"What's happening, Nitori?" Shizuha asked the kappa. "What exactly are those robots?"

"We don't have exact confirmation yet, but it seems very likely that Akemi is responsible for all of them," Nitori replied.

"Akemi! I knew it!" the goddess of red leaves said. "I should've known that she's the one behind this when Keine told me that she seems to hate plants and the fact that the robots are cutting down trees!"

"We were too busy dealing with the larger robots back in the lab that we forgot about her," Nitori said. "However, it seems that dealing with those robots is the priority now, so we'll deal with her later."

"Before you go, can you tell me where one of the entrances to the lab is?" Shizuha asked Nitori. "I want to confront Akemi myself."

"You want to? I'm not sure if it's all right to tell people not part of the science department about this, but seeing how we need help handling things currently… Anyway, there's one in the clearing not too far away from here. It's at the western part of the mountain. If the entrance has closed off, then all you have to do is kick the four rocks found at the four corners of the clearing to reveal it."

"Okay, got it!" Shizuha said with a nod.

"If we're done, then let's go and destroy those robots now!" Rika impatiently said.

"Right! Let's go now!" Nitori said. "C'mon, everyone!" With the exception of the sisters, all the others flew in the direction of the robots.

The goddesses watched as they went to engage the robots, and then Shizuha headed in the direction of the clearing. "I'm heading over to the lab at once to find Akemi," Shizuha told her younger sister. "Since she's behind this, we'll have to convince her to put an end to it."

"I'm with you, sis!" Minoriko told her.

It didn't take long for them to find the clearing Nitori told them about. When they got there, they didn't see anything peculiar, but remembering what Nitori said, the sisters went to kick the rocks at the four corners of the clearing. After they each kicked two, they were surprised at the sight of the clearing slowly moving downwards like an elevator. "Wow! Cool!" Minoriko commented.

The clearing descended for several seconds before finally coming to a stop, and then the wall in front of them slowly slid up to reveal a short passage that led into the lab, so they headed in there. The workers present were surprised that someone who had never been seen in the lab before showing up, but they knew who they were.

"It's the autumn goddesses!"

"How did they discover the clearing's entrance?!"

"What are they doing here?"

Shizuha looked around and then asked a nearby fairy, "Have you seen Akemi? I need to find her fast!"

The fairy shook her head. "Nope, I haven't seen her all day yet, but I heard that she's responsible for killing a white wolf tengu guard and making robots attack this place. We're actually looking for her now."

"She killed a white wolf tengu…? I can't believe it…" Minoriko said in horror.

"Actually, I saw where she went to," a kappa standing not too far away said, and then everyone turned to look at her. "Some time ago, I saw her heading in the direction of the hangar. However, I wasn't told that we were supposed to be looking for her that time yet, so I didn't stop her…"

"Take me there!" Shizuha told her. "There's a large amount of robots cutting down trees up there, and Nitori and the white wolf tengus are fighting them at the moment. Since Akemi is likely behind this, we'll have to convince her to stop this madness!"

"All right! I'll take you to the hangar!" the kappa said, and then she led the way for the sisters.

When they arrived at the hangar, they witnessed in time a plane starting its engine and heading in the direction of a passage. "Hey! There shouldn't be anything taking off from here during this time!" the kappa said.

"That must be her!" Shizuha said, and then she ran after the plane.

"Sis! It may be dangerous! Don't go!" Minoriko shouted at her.

"There's no time to lose! I must stop her before she escapes!" Shizuha replied.

The goddess used flight to travel faster and followed the plane into the passage. She saw the plane stopping at a dead end, and then light started to pour in from above. Shizuha stopped behind the plane and looked up to see that the ceiling was opening to reveal the sky, and when it was fully open, the plane started to float into the air. Acting quick, Shizuha jumped at its left wing and climbed onto it.

The plane came out from the underground and flew high into the sky. "Everything's going fine so far!" Akemi said while piloting the plane. "Before I get started, let's see what my robots are doing."

* * *

With a powerful punch to the body, the bulky mechanical arms that were a part of the mechanical backpack Nitori was carrying managed to send the robot with arm cannons flying back several feet. "Ha! How'd you like that?" Nitori said while one arm punched the other arm's palm. "I recently finished this Mecha-Pack, and thanks to you guys, I'm able to use it in a real fight!"

The robot got back up and then shot streams of fire from its arm cannons at her. The kappa quickly leaped out of the way. When she landed, the mechanical arms quickly retracted into the backpack, and in place of them appeared two divided parts of a cannon that fused together in front of her body. A thick pipe also came out from the front of her backpack and went into the river, and then Nitori grabbed hold of the lone handle behind the cannon. When the robot aimed its arm cannon at Nitori, she pulled the handle to fire a huge blast of water that instantly doused the fire and pushed the robot backwards at a fast speed. "Hyper Water Blaster!"

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

* * *

Evil Eye Omega fired rapidly at the robot with chainsaw arms using energy blasts, but the latter managed to deflect the shots with its chainsaws while moving in on the former. "Not bad," Rika said from inside her ride. "Looks like I'll have to use stronger firepower!"

Missiles launchers came out from the shoulders of Evil Eye Omega and fired missiles at the robot, but the latter managed to destroy them with its chainsaws before running at Evil Eye Omega. Rika's robot swung its arms to the sides to make blades charged with electricity come out from its wrists, and then it ran at the approaching robot to engage it up close.

* * *

While Nitori and Rika handled the two large ones, the white wolf tengus fought the smaller ones and the one with axe hands.

The white wolf tengus were highly skilled fighters, so the robots, while durable, were no match for their skills, thus they were slowly taken out one by one. It was the large one that they were having a problem with, as its exterior was too hard for their swords to go through, and its strength were a match for their natural strength, too.

While the battle raged on between the robots and the "beings of flesh", something suddenly dropped onto the center of the battlefield with such a force that quite a bit of dust was sent flying into the air. This caused everyone to stop fighting and turn to look at what just fell down. The dust slowly cleared away to reveal Aya, who was standing back up and adjusting her hat. "Guess the entrance was too dramatic, eh?" she asked while looking around.

The sound of coughing was also heard coming from next to her, and then Reimu stood up while dusting herself. "Man, Aya! Did you have to do that?! Dragging me out of my shrine and pulling me all the way here without my consent first!" the shrine maiden angrily said.

"Well, the situation looks bad, so I thought I should hurry up and bring you here," Aya told her. "Fine… I apologize for being in such a rush…"

Reimu looked around and saw the robots. "So these are the ones causing trouble, eh? Did you have to bring me here, seeing how the white wolf tengus are dealing with them already?"

"I thought it would be better if you lend a hand," Aya said to her. "After all, you're the master of solving incidents, so you should be able to get this resolved in a jiffy!"

"Yeah, yeah… Long answer short: you people can't solve incidents without me…" Reimu grumbled. "Fine, I'll make a short work out of these robots and then get back to taking a nap…" Then she turned to look at the one with axe hands. "I'll assume that the big ones are the leaders, right?"

Nitori watched from her location and said, "Well, looks like Aya went out of her way to bring in someone who we can trust in a fight! That's a plus for us!"

* * *

Akemi was watching the battle through a footage captured using the plane's camcorder built outside it. "Looks like they're putting up a fight against those robots pretty well," she said. "However, those robots are merely a distraction to keep them from discovering what I'm actually doing! While they're busy fighting those robots, I'm busy planting the Geothermal Triangles into different parts of Gensokyo! By the time they realized this, all plant life here will be destroyed!"

"I'm not going to let them happen!" said a voice coming from behind.

Akemi turned around in shock and saw Shizuha standing there. "What?! How and when did you…"

"Through the door… just now," the goddess interrupted.

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

The concept for Nitori's Hyper Water Blast came from Cyborg's super move in the game Injustice: Gods Among Us.

I can't exactly remember which came first: Coming up with the idea of Minoriko using and summoning crops to fight myself or getting the inspiration for it after looking up on M.U.G.E.N. videos of her... I'm talking about before I started this story, but I did look up on M.U.G.E.N. videos for better ideas on how she could fight when working on this chapter.

Also, this chapter's title is named after Touhou 12.8's final boss theme, Great Fairy Wars ~ Fairy Wars.


	9. A Better World

**Chapter 9  
A Better World**

* * *

Akemi was staring in disbelief at Shizuha. Even though she knew that the goddess could fly, she still had hard time believing that she was actually in the plane with her. "What… What do you want…?" Akemi asked her.

"I should be asking you that question first," Shizuha said to her. "What is it exactly that you're doing? Those robots… Are you really behind them?"

"Oh, you mean the ones that are fighting those white wolf tengus and some others at the moment?" Akemi asked. "Who else but a genius with powerful and highly advanced cybernetic arms like me could build them?"

"I figured it would be you…" Shizuha said. "Why are you doing this? I talked with Keine about you, and she said that you seem to have a fear of plants."

"Fear of plants? Is that what she thinks?" Akemi asked. "Well, it's understandable why she would think that when she saw me reacting to entering forests and tall grasses, but she doesn't even know the half of it!"

"Half of it? Why exactly are you targeting plants?" Shizuha asked. "Is it because you grew up in the big city that you are used to technology and cannot stand nature? Is not living in the science lab not satisfying enough? You can also ask to be returned to the outside world too! What you're doing now is not the way to do things! Just because you have a fear of plants does not mean you can destroy them all! Plants are important to the world and benefit people! The world cannot exist without plants!"

"It's not actually plants that I'm targeting, but it's nature as a whole that I'm targeting!" Akemi loudly said.

Shizuha became even more curious upon hearing this. "Nature? Then why are you targeting nature? What has nature done to you?"

"A lot! It took away my family! It took away my happiness! I scarred me for life!" Akemi angrily replied. "Nature is the world's greatest killer! How many people's lives have been lost because they got lost in jungles, deserts, mountains, and in the middle of the sea? It's because that these harsh, uninhabited places exist that people are losing their lives! I'm going to do the world a favor by making every single part of the world habitable! That way, planes will no longer have to worry about crashing into places where there is no civilization! People will be able to get rescued immediately if they get into a car accident! I'm going to make this world a better place for everyone to live in!"

Hearing that she lost her family, Shizuha felt sorry for her. "I'm sorry for making you think of unpleasant memories… I understand why you are doing this now, but… this still does not justify your actions. Imagine a world where there are no trees or anything green… It's true that nature can be harsh, but life cannot exist without it… They provide us with the necessities in life. As long as we know how to coexist with nature, lives will never be lost."

"Science and technology can provide us with the necessities of life! Who needs trees and such to survive?!" Akemi angrily said to her. "This world is better off without nature and wild animals running around! The population of the world is increasing as well, so there should be more space for people to live in! I'm going to start off by eliminating all the trees of this primitive place you call Gensokyo!"

"By letting those robots cut down all the trees here?" Shizuha asked her. "They won't succeed! You are underestimating the inhabitants of Gensokyo. Your robots will not last long against the heavy hitters of this place! You will fail in the end!"

"I know that already, which is exactly why I created something that I call a Geothermal Triangle," Akemi told her.

"Geothermal Triangle?" Shizuha curiously said.

"You'll probably be confused if I explain things to you in a scientific method, so I'll make it simple," Akemi said to her. "I created three of them, and I'm going to drop them onto various parts of this place. They will drill into the ground and then release extremely high heat that will burn away the roots of all plant life in their radiuses. Without their roots, plants will die. That way, all the plants in Gensokyo will be dead. Got what I said?"

"How dare you?!" Shizuha angrily said, and then she produced a leaf in her hand. "I'll have to stop you! For the sake of this land and the people living in it, I must not let you succeed!"

"I knew you would try to stop me," Akemi said, and then she quickly pointed her hand at Shizuha and fired an energy blast from it, but the goddess stepped aside to the avoid it. "Nice dodging! They weren't kidding when they said you're very skilled in fighting and dodging."

"How did you do that just now?" Shizuha asked in surprise.

Akemi smirked and then tore off her sleeves to reveal her cybernetic arms to the goddess. "As I said earlier, they gave me cybernetic arms as replacement. It can lift heavy things with ease and extend its length. It's also capable of transforming into different kinds of tools, but I installed energy blasters into them myself. It's also thanks to these arms that I was able to build those robots and the Geothermal Triangles in a short amount of time. These arms have great dexterity that allows me to work at a fast speed. Combined with my talented mind, I am able to build things that normally take weeks and months to complete in a short amount of time!"

"Whoever gave you those arms must be regretting ever doing this now!" Shizuha said, and then she threw the leaf in her hand at Akemi, but the latter easily deflected it with her hand.

"I guess so, but I'm glad that they gave me these arms!" Akemi said. "Thanks to them, I am now able to begin my plan!"

"I won't let that happen!" Shizuha shouted as she ran at Akemi, and when close to her, she performed a roundhouse kick, only to get her leg caught by the latter.

"You better not underestimate the strength of these arms!" Akemi told her before flinging her against the wall at the side. After the goddess hit the wall, Akemi changed her right hand into a blade and then ran at her to impale her with it, but Shizuha got out of the way in time.

Shizuha said to her, "You can't kill me. I'm a goddess!"

"Just because you can't die doesn't mean you can't feel pain! I'll incapacitate you long enough for me to accomplish my plan!" Akemi said to her. "Also, winter is arriving, and I'm sure that for someone who gets her power from autumn, you're at your weakest during winter!"

"Winter is not entirely here yet, and even so, you shouldn't be underestimating me during other seasons!" Shizuha said before producing and throwing several leaves at Akemi.

Akemi crossed her arms in front of her face for protection against the leaves, but she still got cut in some of the other parts of her body. When the leaves were done flying at her, she angrily extended her arm at the goddess to catch her by the neck, but Shizuha stepped out of the way and then charged at her to kick her in the body to send her flying at the control panel.

Shizuha then grabbed her by the collar and said to her, "Give up at once! Even if you manage to defeat me, there will still be other people far more powerful than me stopping you!"

"I'm not going to let a bunch of cave people living in a primitive land stop me!" Akemi angrily said to her. Thanks to the strength of her arms, she managed pull Shizuha's hands away from her collar with ease and then switch positions with her. While holding Shizuha by the neck, Akemi pulled back her other hand and changed it into a knife to stab her, but the goddess kicked her in the shin to stop her from doing so. While Akemi was in pain, Shizuha pushed her back before running at her and hitting her in the abdomen with a flying kick to send her shooting back through the place.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

Akemi crashed down the door when she hit it and tumbled roughly against the floor of the room at the back. She grunted in pain as she sat up and looked at Shizuha, who was approaching her with a leaf in her hand. "Don't make me injure you too much," Shizuha said to her. "You already lost your family and your arms. If you keep on pushing me or the inhabitants here, then you'll likely lose your own life as well, so stop this madness at once!"

"Who do you think is the blame for my losses?! Who do you think is the blame for making me do this?!" Akemi angrily shouted at her. "If nature wasn't harsh, dangerous, and is habited by more people, then none of this would happen! It's people who want to preserve nature and keep the world green that these tragedies happened to me!"

Akemi then pointed her arms at Shizuha to fire energy blasts at her, but the goddess said to her, "You know, I can simply move out of the way and let those shots hit the control panel, thus making the plane go out of control."

Akemi considered her words and then growled in anger before quickly getting up and running at Shizuha to punch her, but the latter caught her fist with ease and then shoved her to the side. The goddess then approached her at a fast speed and punched her across the face a couple of times before kicking her away in the waist with a roundhouse kick.

Akemi growled in anger as she extended her fist in at her. Shizuha didn't only dodge it by moving her head to the side, but she also caught the wire and twisted it in her hand to keep Akemi from fully retracting it. However, Akemi pulled off an unexpected move of pulling herself towards her hand at a fast speed. With her other hand in the form of a blade, she plunged it through Shizuha's abdomen when she came close to her.

The goddess coughed in pain while taking a step back from Akemi, and then the latter kicked her to make her let go of the wire so that she could retract her hand properly. Akemi then fired an energy blast at Shizuha, zapping her badly and sending her backwards.

While the goddess was dazed, Akemi charged at her to impale her with her blade, but Shizuha recovered in time and stepped out of the blade's way before catching her arm and then kneeing her in the abdomen hard.

* * *

Nitori slammed a drill that was currently replacing one of her Mecha-Pack's arms into the fire-using robot's chest. It took a few seconds, but the drill eventually managed to bore a hole in it. Acting quick, Nitori took out a disk-shaped device from her pocket and put it into the hole before moving back. Bright light came out from the hole on the robot's chest, and then there was an explosion that blasted it into pieces.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Nitori formed her hand into a fist in a triumphant way and said, "Yes! That's one down!"

* * *

Evil Eye Omega continued to clash blades with the axe-handed robot's axes. The latter eventually opened its back to bring out its two-side axe to strike Evil Eye Omega from above, but Rika's robot blocked it by crossing its blades over its head. Unfortunately for the axe-handed robot, it failed to realize that Evil Eye Omega's electrified blades, when in contact with the axe for more than a second, caused the electricity to travel down the axe and into its body.

BZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!

Evil Eye Omega pushed the two-sided axe away and then and increased the voltage of its blades before swinging them at the robot's axe hands to slice them off. After that, the former fired several missiles at it from the missile launchers on its shoulders. "Let's see you try to stay in one piece after getting hit by this," Rika said while the missiles were bombarding the robot. "Lock onto target! Activate the Omega Beam!"

Upon saying the voice command, the eye of Evil Eye Omega glowed brightly with light blue, and then a few seconds later, a large beam as big as the axe-handed robot was fired at the latter.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The robot was pushed back through the place by the beam, and several trees behind it were pushed down and incinerated by the latter as well. Eventually, the robot could no longer handle the heat of the beam, so it exploded

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The beam attack came to an end, and Rika looked at the pathway she created in the woods. "Oops… The unnecessary damage is a bit too big…" she said.

* * *

Reimu threw a large amount of red paper amulets that floated in the air around the robot with chainsaw hands. One by one and eventually multiple at a time, the amulets flew at the robot and exploded on contact. While the amulets were bombarding the robot, Reimu took out a spell card that formed multiple energy orbs of various colors. "Divine Spirit: Fantasy Seal!"

The energy orbs orbited her for a few seconds before flying at the robot and blasted it. When all the amulets and orbs had collided with it, the robot was still in one piece, though there were charred spots all over its body. The robot ran at Reimu and swung its chainsaw at her, but she performed a back flip to escape it and then threw a barrage of purple amulets at its head while in midair. "Demon Buster!"

The robot shrugged off that attack with ease and then swung down its chainsaw at the shrine maiden, but she quickly held up a paper amulet in its direction to form a dome-shaped barrier around herself that protected her from the chainsaw. The robot slammed its chainsaws against the barrier over and over to try to break it.

"We should help her!" the squad leader, who was watching from the sideline, said to her subordinates.

"It's okay! I can handle this myself!" Reimu said out loud to them while holding up the barrier. "I'll let you know if I need help!"

The constant striking against the barrier eventually caused it to flicker, and Reimu knew that it wouldn't be able to hold up for too long. The robot raised its chainsaws into the air, and then they glowed with bright orange light. Seeing that it would be too risky to let the barrier block those glowing chainsaws, Reimu took out a spell card, and when they came down, she shouted, "Dimensional Rift!"

When the chainsaws were about to hit the barrier, Reimu disappeared into thin air. The chainsaws smashed through the barrier and struck the ground. When the robot brought back up its chainsaws, the spots they hit were smoking and glowing with heat.

Reimu reappeared behind the robot and slapped a yellow amulet onto the back of its neck to make electricity run throughout its body. The robot thrashed around wildly as it suffered from the electrocution. Taking the risk to approach the robot, Reimu ran at it and slapped a spell card onto the part of the ground in between its legs. "Divine Arts: Demon Binding Circle!"

The card glowed with bright light and then formed a pillar of orange light around Reimu and the robot, but only the latter was harmed by it, not to mention slowly getting carried into the air. When the pillar of light disappeared, Reimu quickly moved back before the robot fell on top of her.

While the robot was down on its back, the shrine maiden jumped above it and threw several yellow amulets onto various parts of its body to electrocute it. Because there were several amulets, the voltage was much more powerful. Reimu landed on the other side of the robot and then turned around to watch the robot getting zapped continuously. She had to cover her eyes partially and hold her arms a bit over them, as the brightness of the electricity stung them.

Eventually, the effect of the amulets died out, and then the robot, with smoke coming out from all over it, fell limp. "That's that," the shrine maiden said.

"Wow… I can't believe it! She actually managed to take out that robot all by herself!" the squad leader said in disbelief. "It's easy to accept Nitori and Rika defeating those robots, as they have access to advanced technology and weaponry to can easily get the job done, but the Hakure shrine maiden relied on… on… things that you don't think should be able to compete with technology!"

Reimu turned to look at her with a somewhat offended expression and asked, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Look out!" a white wolf tengu shouted at Reimu, who quickly turned to the robot to see it slowly getting back up.

The robot turned to the surprised Reimu and activated its chainsaws again. "Ready for round two?" Reimu asked it after recovering from her slight shock. "I don't recommend it, what with your body being in a bad condition…"

The robot brought down one of its chainsaws at her, but she jumped to the side before jumping at the robot's chest with a spell card in her hand. "Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Orb!" After slamming her hand and the card against the robot's chest and shouting out the move name, a huge burst of orange energy was created, blasting the robot back several steps. The shrine maiden ran at the robot and jumped at its chest again to perform the same move, and then the robot was blasted into the river.

SPLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!

The robot quickly emerged from the water, only to have several yellow amulets thrown at it. As water and electricity do not mix well, the robot suffered from even worse electrocution than when it was on land. While this was happening, Reimu took out ten needles with red amulets tied to the back of them via strings, five in each hand, and threw them at the robot's eyes, five in each of them.

The amulets attached to the needles then exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The robot's head and the area close to the upper part of chest were blown off completely, and then the rest of its body sank to the bottom of the river. Reimu walked up to the side of the river and looked at the robot through the crystal clear water, and then Nitori and Evil Eye Omega joined her at the sides. The former nudged her in the arm with her elbow and said, "Awesome! We can rely on you in a fight almost every time!"

"This actually turned out to be easier than I thought," the shrine maiden said.

"Hey everyone! What's that up there?" Aya said out loud, so everyone looked up to see Akemi's plane hovering in the air.

* * *

Despite Akemi not having a well-trained body, Shizuha still relentlessly attacked her with punches, kicks, and karate chops. The goddess ended the series of attacks by kicking her into the cockpit. The goddess ran in there to continue the fight, and she prevented Akemi from stabbing her in the face with her blade hand by pinning the arm against the cockpit.

Akemi pointed her other hand at Shizuha and readied to fire an energy blast into her face, but the goddess quickly forced her hand onto the control panel with its palm facing it. The energy blast was fired, and it destroyed the control panel.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The explosion blew the both of them back into the previous room. Akemi got up and turned around to watch with horror at the burning control panel. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Because the control panel was destroyed, the plane started to shake, and they could tell that the latter was starting to drop altitude as well. Akemi angrily shouted at the goddess, "HOW DARE YOU?!"

"You tried to shoot me, so you should blame yourself instead," Shizuha told her.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Akemi angrily shouted before firing from both her hands nonstop, but the goddess swiftly dodged each of the shots while closing in on her. When close to Akemi, Shizuha performed a somersault jump over her. The moment the former turned around, she received a foot to the abdomen that pushed her back several steps. Shizuha then ran up to her to hit her in the waist with a roundhouse kick.

KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!

* * *

"Everyone, get away!" Nitori shouted when the plane fell closer and closer to the ground. Everyone got out of the way when the plane hit the ground with a crash, though it wasn't a strong one, as the plane didn't fall at a fast speed.

When the smoke cleared, everyone ran to the plane and watched as Shizuha carried Akemi out of the door by the shoulder. "Sis!" Minoriko said to the former. "Are you all right?"

"It really is Akemi after all!" Rika's voice said from inside Evil Eye Omega.

Shizuha was going to carry Akemi close to the others, but the latter suddenly pulled her arm away from the goddess and then backed away from her. "Get away from me!" she angrily said, and then she fell back and leaned against the side of the plane.

"You've lost already," Shizuha said to her. "After all you've done and what you wanted to do, you should surrender yourself to the law."

"Surrender myself to the law?" Akemi said. "Why should I? I wasn't doing anything wrong! I was trying to make the world a better place, and you people are trying to arrest me for doing something ethical?! If anything, it's you people who should be turned over to the law for interfering with other people's legal business!"

"Make the world a better place? What on earth is she talking about?" asked a confused Reimu.

"Yeah, how can sending all these robots to cause trouble be ethical?" Nitori asked.

"There's no point in trying to talk sense into the likes of you…" Akemi said while glaring at everyone. "There's no point and no use… at all… No matter what I say, you're all going to shoot me down with talks of loving nature and how trees are important to everyone's daily life, and in the meantime, there are people out there getting lost in jungles, mountains, and deserts and trying to survive, only to fail in the end… I'm trying to make a world a better place by making every place on Earth habitable, yet… you people… think that I'm the bad guy here by doing that!"

"Look, I understand your losses and why you want to do that," Shizuha told her, "but you can't be selfish. Sure, making the world a better place for people to live in is good, but people have different opinions on how an ideal world should be. To some people, being able to interact with and live among nature is the perfect world for them. It has also been proven that nature is important to the world."

"Enough!" Akemi angrily shouted at her. "I don't want to get into a pointless debate with you or anyone anymore! Nobody listens to me! Nobody appreciates what I do! Everybody is against me! Everybody! Everybody! EVERYBODY!"

After that, Akemi stopped shouting and then breathe heavily. Everyone else looked at her in silence, some with expressions that showed pity.

"If… If I can't make this world a better place, the kind of world I want…" Akemi started speaking again, "then what point is there for me in living in this world any longer…? I hate… I absolutely hate nature! Trees, animals, jungles, savage places, lack of civilization! I hate them all! I despite them all! I absolutely hate all of them! They took away my family! They took away my happiness! I HATE THIS WORLD! I HATE THIS WORLD! I DON'T TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD ANY LONGER! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

While screaming in rage, Akemi placed her hands against the sides of her heads and then charged up energy in the palms. Seeing this, Shizuha's eyes widened in horror as she quickly reached out to her. "AKEMI! DON'T!"

Too late…

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Shizuha was speechless and frozen in place with wide open eyes.

Everyone else was completely horrified.

Minoriko was so horrified that she passed out, but Momiji quickly caught her from behind.

"Why… Why…?" Shizuha said as tears slowly flowed down from the corners of her eyes. "Why must you… do this…?"

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED

Final chapter coming up next… Please stay tuned…

By the way, the smaller robots were all taken out by Aya and the white wolf tengus.


	10. The End Comes

This chapter contains an ending theme that will eventually be brought up, and if you're pretending that this is a movie, then you can feel free to let the ending theme finish first before reading the epilogue.

**Final Chapter  
The End Comes**

* * *

Kanako and the important members of the science department were together in the meeting room. The sky goddess was looking sad and had her forehead supported by her hand. Everyone else also had sad expressions as well. The atmosphere of the room was without doubt a very depressing one.

After a while of silence, Kanako sighed and then said, "I'm wondering… This probably wouldn't have happened if we didn't drop the idea of the movie theater so easily…"

"It couldn't be helped…" Nitori told her. "The villagers clearly didn't appreciate us trying to create space for a movie theater, and there was no other place where we can build it… Akemi shouldn't have tried to resolve things herself either. Her actions ultimately led to this tragedy…"

"On the bright side, this incident only happened in this area," Rikako said. "I don't think the villagers are going to appreciate the existence of this place and science as a whole anymore if that incident made its way there… Hoping that tengu doesn't spread the word or at least exaggerate things…"

Kanako let out a sigh again and then said, "Is trying to renovate this place such a hard task? I just wanted to make everyone's life here better and more comfortable… Akemi's ideas are actually great, and I don't mean trying to burn down a flower field and trying to destroy Gensokyo… Her vision for the future of this place is the same as mines, but it seems that our visions aren't going to come true anytime soon… Gensokyo is not ready for renovation yet…"

"The only way we can make the people here accept technology is to introduce smaller things little by little," Nitori said. "Trying to force big things down their throats isn't a good idea."

"I agree," Rika said with a nod. "I remember Akemi saying something like introducing outside world foods to the inhabitants here first to give them an idea on how fun and great things of the outside world are. I actually think that's a good idea!"

Kanako raised her head and looked at Rika. "I was also thinking about that. If trying to shoehorn technology into them won't work, then perhaps cuisine is an alternative way. Does everyone agree with this?" The attendants discussed with each other about this, and after a while of doing so, they looked at the goddess and nodded. "Well, I think we can all agree to this idea after all! Even if it may not have anything to do with science, it is still related to the renovation of this place, so we still have a part in this! So… any suggestions on what outside world food we should introduce to Gensokyo first?

* * *

Snow started to fall, and when Reimu noticed this from her shrine's veranda, she said to herself, "Time to take out the kotatsu…"

Suddenly, a gap opened up next to her, and Yukari's upper body popped out from it, and the demon of boundaries leaned against the side of it and said to the shrine maiden, "I'm back!"

"Done delivering her body to the outside world?" Reimu asked her. "Where did you leave it?"

"Since she was reported to be last seen in the area where the outside world version of your shrine is located, I figured that I should leave the body at the entrance to that area," Yukari replied. "It's obvious that the police will investigate the reason behind her death, but I doubt they'll ever learn the truth. How are they going to explain a headless body with no arms and is wrapped in a piece of cloth?"

"Some wild animal took those body parts, and then a passerby who doesn't know what to do wrapped her in a piece of cloth? Anyway, let's hope that what you did better not bring trouble to this place…" Reimu said to her.

"I'm sure nobody is going to suspect a thing," Yukari told her.

"By the way, I wonder how her relatives are going to cope with this," Reimu said. "She went missing from the outside world for a year, and then she was finally found in a… shocking state… Should be a painful blow to her family…"

"The science department looked up on her background, and they found out that her only known relative left is an uncle," Yukari told her. "Her family all died trying to survive in a harsh jungle after the plane they were in crashed, and they were the only survivors of that accident."

"So that's what happened… She said she hates nature because they took away her family and happiness… That explains that…" Reimu said. "I feel bad for her, but still… what she did was unacceptable."

"Traumas and tragedies can drive people to do insane things," Yukari said with a somewhat sad expression. "What she went through must be really traumatizing for her, so I can understand why she wanted to do this… Perhaps if Gensokyo was more advanced, she probably wouldn't have done this… Not being able to live life like in the outside must be very painful for her too…"

"Is life in the outside world really that comfortable and addicting?" Reimu asked her.

"Well, I can't deny that," Yukari said with a slight nod. "That's why my house is basically an outside world house. Why don't you come over and see for yourself? I'm sure you'll have an idea of how life in the outside is like if you come over!"

"When I feel like it… Don't feel like going anywhere at the moment…" Reimu said. "Going to get the kotatsu out now…"

* * *

Ran was taking out the kotatsu from the storage room to use it for the winter. While she was doing that, Chen was sitting in front of the television. "Don't sit too close to the TV," Ran said to the nekomata. "It's not good for your eyes."

"Okay," Chen said before getting up to move back.

Ran placed the kotatsu onto the floor and then went to insert the plug, but Chen already went underneath the former, leaving only her head on the outside. While the nine-tailed fox demon was inserting the plug, a news report appeared on the TV.

"Good evening," the news reporters said. "Our top news for today is a peculiar thing that happened at Akihabara. A mysterious rectangular-shaped device appeared all of a sudden there. No cameras and mobile phones managed to capture the moment it showed up, but according to eyewitnesses, a light blue vortex appeared several meters in the air all of a sudden, and then this thing fell out of it."

The box was then showed up on the screen. It was gray in color, the size of an iPhone, and had lines and circles all over one side of it.

Ran looked at the TV after inserting the plug and said, "That's something you don't see happening in the outside world everyday…"

* * *

Because trees do not grow in winter, it was decided that the clearings created by the robot near the base of Youkai Mountain would be left like that until spring arrived. The fallen trees would be cut up and then sold as timber for people who needed firewood to go through the winter.

While the kappas and fairies were doing the aforementioned work, Shizuha was sitting on a tree stump, watching them work. The goddess watched in silence and with an expression that showed sadness, and then Minoriko approached her from behind and touched her shoulder to grab her attention. "Are you all right, sis?" the goddess of harvest asked her older sister.

"I really wished I could've helped her, but in the end… she just had to choose this path… Throwing away her life so easily…" said Shizuha, ignoring her question.

Minoriko noticed tears slowly coming from the corners of her eyes. "On the bright side, sis, she's finally with her family again!" she said to her older sister. "However, I know that it's still painful to see someone throwing away his life right in front of your eyes and not being able to stop him. It almost as if you killed him yourself…"

"The end will always come… and it's only a matter of time…" Shizuha said. "However… it's not her time yet… If only she tried to find a better way to fulfill her lifelong dream… If only…"

Shizuha then stood up and walked in the direction of her and her sister's house, and Minoriko soon followed her. Just then, white stuff started to fall from the sky. Minoriko looked up with a surprised and excited face, "It's snowing! Winter is coming!"

"Thus the end of autumn has come…" Shizuha said. "But at the same time, it is the beginning of happiness for some people." She then took a deep breath. "I'm heading back home. As much as snow is fun to play in, I usually feel under the weather during this time of the year."

"We're the autumn goddesses after all," Minoriko said. "Still, I'm not missing the opportunity to build a snowman and celebrate Christmas! Liven up, sis! They say being positive makes you feel energized, so you should be happier if you want to have a happier winter!"

"Not sure if I can do that, since I'm a negative person," Shizuha told her. "You should know that better than anyone else."

"I'll pretend that I don't know and will try to make you go through this winter with a smile on your face at all times! Heehee!" Minoriko said as she spun around to the front of her older sister and grabbed her hand. "You're probably feeling hungry now, sis. I'll whip up something warm and tasty back home, so let's go!"

As Shizuha followed her younger sister, she looked up into the sky and then smiled a bit. "Please rest in peace, Akemi!" she said in her head.

* * *

**Ending Theme  
Love of Autumn Showers  
(vocal remix of Romantic Fall, by Seventh Heaven MAXION)**

Reimu and Ruukoto were setting up the kotatsu together.

* * *

Aya was working in front of her computer, typing up an article regarding the incident that happened. In order to keep her from exaggerating things and ruining the reputation of the science department, the squad leader of the group of white wolf tengus that played a part in the incident was told to keep an eye on her while she worked.

* * *

Kanako and the members of the science department were still in the meeting room, and the goddess was showing everyone a picture of a pizza through a projector.

* * *

Hina was watching from the side as the kappas and the fairies cut the trees into smaller pieces, tying them up in bundles, and then loading them onto pickup trucks, and when a truck was full, it drove away in the direction of the Human Village.

* * *

Minoriko and Shizuha were back in their house, and the former was preparing lunch, while the latter prepared the table.

* * *

Story by  
Game2002

Akemi, Mia, and the squad leader are owned by me

All other named characters are owned by ZUN

All other unnamed characters are irrelevant regarding who owns them

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**Theme Ends**

* * *

Nue and Mamizou were sitting on a tree branch at the forest at the base of Youkai Mountain, watching the kappas and the fairies cutting up the fallen trees. "Heard that someone from the outside world who has been living here for a year did this," Mamizou told Nue.

"Yeah, and that she built robots to destroy all the trees here," Nue continued for her. "Apparently, she has a grudge against nature or something like that…"

"If it's because she grew up in the big city and has been surrounded by televisions, cars, video games, computers, and such for so long that she can't separate herself from them, then I can understand why she can't stand nature," Mamizou said. "After all, those things pretty much define life in the outside world nowadays. Life in the outside can be addicting, and I can testify to it before you brought me over here to live. Still, it's not like I crave going back out there, though it would still be nice to get back out there and have fun."

"Life in the outside world really is that fun and addicting?" Nue asked. "I only went out there once to bring you over, so I didn't actually get to interact with the things out there. After hearing what you said, I really feel like…" Then an idea came to her. "I just thought of a great idea!"

"Yeah?" Mamizou curiously said.

Nue turned to her and asked, "Why don't we go to the outside and spend the winter there?"

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TO BE CONTINUED

in

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: NUE

The second "build-up" story

That's the end of this story. I hope you enjoyed it! I will treat the next story as the next chapter and therefore not take a break, if you don't count the time before starting the next chapter a break…

So yes, the next story is about Nue and Mamizou's adventure in the outside world, but the former will be the main focus. I can't say that the connection between the two stories will be huge. This one was really for getting Nue interested in the outside world, and this will eventually lead to a series of events that will ultimately build up to a major story.

Oh, the dots seen after the credits is where you let the ending theme reach the end before continuing to the epilogue, but you should already know that if you read the author's note at the beginning of this chapter. Just a friendly reminder...

What is this major story? Perhaps I'll share it with you when I feel like it, but in the meantime, please enjoy these "build-up" stories!

See you all in the next story!

God bless you all!


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